The forward signed a one-year deal with the Lakers this summer, and he says coming home to Los Angeles made the choice an easy one.
Ziaire Williams had just wrapped his annual basketball clinic for kids in Lancaster when he sat down with the Southern California News Group on Sunday, and he did not take long to explain why this offseason felt different.
The forward agreed to a one year, three million dollar contract with the Lakers in July, and for a player who grew up in Lancaster, the move put him back in his own backyard.
Williams spent his first three seasons in Memphis and the last two in Brooklyn, where he set new career numbers a season ago, and coming home turned out to be the biggest pull of all.
Coming Home To Los Angeles
Williams said roots were part of it, but not the whole thing.
He also pointed to what the roster needed and where he fit best out of every option in front of him.
"Being that big wing, versatile player that they needed, I just thought it was a great opportunity for me to be a Laker. Even if the same team was in New Orleans or Milwaukee, wherever, just the opportunity that was here and the team that they had, I just thought it was the best fit," Williams told the Southern California News Group.
He called being back home the cherry on top, since family and friends finally get to watch him play in person.
There is more to the homecoming than basketball, too.
Williams said giving back to where he is from played a real part in this decision, and playing for the Lakers gives him a bigger platform to do that going forward.
His clinic in Lancaster is already an annual event for local kids, and he wants to grow it now that he is back in Southern California instead of across the country in Brooklyn.
Fitting Into A Reshaped Roster
Los Angeles spent this offseason building around Luka Doncic, who averaged 33.5 points a game a year ago after his move from Dallas, and Williams joins a wing rotation that still needed depth and size.
Horace Grant broke down how new center Walker Kessler gives the frontcourt a toughness it was missing, and Williams brings some of that same edge on the wing as a long defender who can guard a few different positions.
Not every free agent target picked Los Angeles this summer.
Jonathan Kuminga chose Minnesota over the Lakers even though the Lakers offered more guaranteed money, and that miss is part of why some still call the frontcourt the roster's biggest remaining hole even after a busy summer.
Williams, coming off a career-high 10.2 points a game with the Nets last season, is exactly the cheap wing with size that a team building around a superstar goes looking for.
Training camp opens league-wide later this month, and Williams will get his first look at practicing alongside Doncic, Austin Reaves and a roster that looks different than a year ago.
For a player who bounced from Memphis to Brooklyn without picking his own city, landing in Los Angeles gives him a real chance to show what he can do close to home, with family in the stands and a full season ahead to make his case.
