4:27pm: The team has officially announced the signing.
3:11pm: The Lakers will re-sign Shawne Williams, tweets Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times. The news comes right after the Lakers announced that Nick Young will miss at least two weeks with a non-displaced patella fracture and a bone bruise (Twitter link). Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com speculated earlier this week that Williams, who’s been playing with the Lakers D-League affiliate, would get a look. It’ll be a 10-day contract, according to Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News, who says (on Twitter) that the 27-year-old forward will join the team tonight.
Williams was with the Lakers on a partially guaranteed deal until they let him go last month, shortly before the contract would have become fully guaranteed. The Happy Walters client averaged 5.2 points and 4.5 rebounds in 20.2 minutes per game in his first go-around with the Lakers this season.
Injuries have wreaked havoc on the Lakers, who had only five healthy players at the end of last night’s game, forcing them to evoke a rule that allowed Robert Sacre to remain in the contest even though he’d fouled out. Williams will fill the team’s open roster spot, but the Lakers are allowed to ask the league for permission to add a 16th man if they expect at least four of their injured players to continue to be unavailable.
The Lakers opted not to re-sign Manny Harris earlier this week after his pair of 10-day contracts had expired. Players can’t sign more than two 10-day contracts with a single team each season, so L.A. would have to sign him for the rest of the season if it brought him back. Adding Williams, who hasn’t been on a 10-day contract with the Lakers this year, gives the team greater flexibility.