Well this is awkward…
After Rob Pelinka and the Lakers brass were celebrated for making the move for Hornets center Mark Williams, the deal has reportedly been nixed.
According to NBA insider Shams Charania, the trade that sent Williams to LA in exchange for sharpshooting rookie Dalton Knecht has been rescinded. Something he explained on ESPN’s halftime show on Saturday night:
Sources tell me that the Lakers have failed Mark Williams’ on his physical exam. I’m told they found multiple issues in that exam and it’s about the extent of the injury that they found… People have talked about his back being an issue — I’m told that that was not the reason of the failed physical. So they found a couple of other issues in his physical exam that they did not expect.
.@ShamsCharania has the latest on the rescinded trade between the Lakers and the Hornets
pic.twitter.com/ggenh7smne
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) February 9, 2025
Not only does this leave the Lakers with very limited frontcourt options and size but it could also stunt the growth of Knecht who returns to a team that found him expendable roughly 48 hours ago.
This is a pretty rare situation where LA was forced to call things off entirely rather than amend the deal because the trade deadline has now come and gone.
The Lakers will now be forced to turn to a rotation of LeBron James, Rui Hachimura, Jarred Vanderbilt, Dorian Finney-Smith, Jaxson Hayes and Trey Jemison III at the four and five spots.
There’s always the buyout market as well. But they likely won’t find the caliber of rim-running big they thought they had when they made the decision to acquire Williams.
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It’s a tough spot for the Lakers — who many thought could contend after their recent string of trades. Now they’ll attempt to pick up the pieces with three months left in the regular season.
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