The Los Angeles Lakers have nixed the trade to acquire Charlotte Hornets center Mark Williams after he failed the team’s physical, according to ESPN’s senior NBA insider Shams Charania. The deal, seen as a huge score for the Purple and Gold, who had the plan of pairing Williams alongside newly acquired superstar Luka Doncic from the Dallas Mavericks, will not go through due to what the Lakers officially say is a “failure to satisfy a condition of the trade” on the Hornets’ part.
The Lakers had traded a bounty with rookie Dalton Knecht, Cam Reddish, a first-round swap in 2030 and an unprotected first-round pick in 2031 to the Hornets in exchange for Williams, but, according to Charania, “multiple issues” showed up on Williams’ physical that caused the team to pull the plug and reverse on the deal. As a result, Williams will go back to the Hornets, and Knecht, Reddish and the draft capital will go back to the Lakers.
The Hornets released the following statement on the rescinded trade:
“We are excited to welcome Mark back to our Hornets organization. After the other team aggressively pursued Mark, we made the difficult decision to move him. We have always held great respect for Mark’s talent, work ethic, and character. We are thrilled to see him rejoin our roster as a dynamic presence at the starting center position. His return strengthens our team, and we look forward to the impact he will make on and off the court.”
This is a unique occurrence, because had Williams failed physical happened ahead of the expiration of the trade deadline, the deal could have been changed. But since the deadline has come and gone, the Lakers’ only options were to either keep the deal as is, which means retaining what sounds like an injured Williams on the roster or call the whole thing off. Los Angeles has chosen the latter, leaving them nearly bare in the center department for the rest of the season unless they can find one on the buyout market.
It is a gut punch to the Lakers since Williams was thought of as the perfect vertical spacing big to pair with Doncic, who performed well in Dallas when he had a lob partner out of the pick-and-roll. Williams was that and more, and at the young age of 23, was on the exact timeline with Doncic. However, it seems as though his injuries were worse than what the Lakers were expecting. He has taken the court in just 23 games this season due to a foot injury, and dealt with a severe back issue that completely took his sophomore campaign for a loop, limiting him to 19 games. Though Charania reports the issues in his physical had nothing to do with his back.
Embed from Getty ImagesWithout the presence of Williams, the Lakers will now have to rely on the buyout market to find a serviceable big, which is something this franchise is not used to. Some options that come to mind are Mo Bamba, who was waived by the Utah Jazz after being traded by their cross-town rival, the Los Angeles Clippers before the deadline. Kelly Olynyk would be another option after being dealt from his hometown team the Raptors to the Pelicans, though it is not clear if New Orleans’ plan is to keep him on the roster for the rest of the season. Veteran Daniel Theis was also recently waived after being traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Whoever the Lakers decide on, they likely will not find someone on the buyout market that is going to do the things they had envisioned Williams would do for them. But on the bright side of things, the Lakers now get back their sharpshooter Knecht and that first-round pick back to potentially use for another center that fits perfectly with Doncic, and can provide better defense than Williams would have, this summer.
