Ukrainian center Alex Len has signed a free agent deal with the Los Angeles Lakers, the NBA club announced on Tuesday, after an earlier trade for Mark Williams fell through.

Len, a 31-year-old seven-footer (2.13m) in his 12th NBA campaign, joined the Lakers, his sixth NBA club, only three days after being released by Washington.

The Lakers had swung a deal with the Charlotte Hornets for US seven-footer Williams at last week’s NBA trade deadline, but the big man reportedly failed a physical and the trade was rescinded.

That left the Lakers needing a big man to play alongside superstars Luka Doncic and LeBron James after the departure of Anthony Davis in a deal with Dallas that sent Slovenian guard Doncic to Los Angeles.

The answer came in Len, who reportedly was near signing with the Indiana Pacers before the Lakers opportunity arrived.

Len was the fifth overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft by Phoenix, where he spent five seasons before moving on to Atlanta, Sacramento, Toronto and Washington before returning to Sacramento for 3.5 seasons until going to Washington as part of three-team trade deal last week.

Len has career averages of 6.7 points and 5.3 rebounds over 680 NBA appearances and has started only five games in the past three seasons. He averaged 1.4 points and 1.8 rebounds a game for Sacramento this season.

The Lakers, who released injured forward Christian Wood to make room for Len, are 32-19 and fourth in the Western Conference with a six-game win streak.

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