The Lakers say their deal to acquire Mark Williams from the Hornets has been rescinded, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN (Twitter link). L.A. is claiming that Charlotte failed to satisfy one of the conditions of the trade.
Sources tell Charania that Williams failed his physical with the Lakers due to “multiple issues” (Twitter link). He adds that none of the concerns involve problems with Williams’ back, which caused him to miss most of last season.
With L.A. looking for help in the middle after sending Anthony Davis to Dallas in the Luka Doncic deal, the Hornets agreed to part with Williams in exchange for rookie wing Dalton Knecht, forward Cam Reddish, the Lakers’ unprotected 2031 first-round pick and a 2030 first-round pick swap.
Although both teams announced the trade on Thursday, it remained conditional on Williams and Knecht reporting to their new teams and passing physicals, notes Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link).
If the trade deadline hadn’t passed, the two teams could have gone back to the negotiating table, as the Sixers and Mavericks did after Dallas didn’t like Caleb Martin‘s physical. However, after the deadline, a trade can only be accepted or voided, not amended, so Williams will go back to Charlotte and Knecht and Reddish will return to L.A. along with the draft assets.
That means instead of having an opening, the Lakers now have a full 15-man roster and are $1.6MM below the second apron. The Hornets will have 14 players on standard contracts, along with Elfrid Payton, who signed a 10-day deal on Friday via the hardship exception.
Although the Lakers are 3-0 since giving up Davis, there are concerns about how the team will get by without a proven center who can rebound and protect the basket.
Jaxson Hayes has moved into the starting lineup over the past five games, and he had another solid outing today with nine points and 12 rebounds in 29 minutes in a victory over Indiana. Trey Jemison, who joined the team on a two-way contract last month, logged nearly 12 minutes off the bench and may see regular playing time for the rest of the season.
General manager Rob Pelinka thought he solved that problem when he reached the deal with Charlotte, valuing Williams highly enough to part with his last available first-round pick when there were more affordable centers on the market. Finding a long-term answer in the middle will likely be a top priority for Pelinka this offseason.
The Williams deal is the first NBA trade to be rescinded since the Pistons voided a deal with the Nuggets ahead of the 2022 trade deadline due to concerns about Bol Bol‘s physical.
Nice
This trade would be fine if it’s Dalton for Williams straight up
Lakers are Overpaying
Lakers gave up to much to gamble his injury history
So you’re saying they had buyers remorse, and the league helped them out again, huh? Lmao
Ouch !!!!
Yep…they’re done. Jaxon Hayes, uh oh.
Theis is the only viable option I see available. Not a big big but his pick and pop game is good and he does work hard to get others open.
That’s what Pelinka gets for putting all his center eggs in one basket instead of looking at Valanciunas or even Vucevic, unless the Bulls had a huge huge ask.
They could have gotten a quite a bit cheaper C that would have been better than what they have like Dayron Sharpe
Maybe in the offseason LBJ can just drift away, let Luka slip into his sleeper GM position, and he can sign a lob-ready center with LeBrons money.
back issues?
What does this mean?
Not sure if we know yet what the Lakers are taking issue with.
I suppose it might mean that Charlotte withheld important medical information about Williams from the Lakers.
The trade is cancelled!
On the one hand, I never really liked this trade from a long-term standpoint for the Lakers.
On the other hand, their frontcourt is a mess in the short-term if this ends up being rescinded
It is rescinded, that’s what is being reported. There’s no “ifs” about it! Lol
It’s been rescinded. There is no if.
lol must be already injured for the season
F
What happens if a trade is rescinded?
everything back to what is was before – Hornets will go with 3 centers and be able to finish losing majority of games like they always do
All the players and/or draft assets and cash go back to where they were before the trade was announced. Like it never happened.
All players and assets revert to their original teams. I don’t know if there are any repercussions from the league office.
On second thought, the league could dock the Hornets a draft pick if it finds they withheld medical information.
No they can’t. It’s buyer beware. There is no obligation to disclose. That’s what physicals are for.
Its as if it never happened
The trade is cancelled!
Thoughts and prayers to all the family’s that have been upended by this
Been 2 days you really think theyve done anything yet?
The players involved in this deal are all 25 and younger. I highly doubt it had any impact on their parents….
If there is no pathway to get this deal done, what’s left of the Lakers front court might be the worst in the league. They were thin even with AD on the roster.
Demarcus Cousins!!
Boogie!!
The trade deadline has passed. It’s not if there’s a pathway to get it done. It’s canceled.
@Miken31 – Depends on the hold up. There’s provisions to get administration things done once the deadline has passed, hen
Let me try that again. It depends on the hold up – things like physicals and admin can be done after the deadline, but they can’t change the package involved. There’s provisions for it, hence why we’re only hearing about problems now.
Sounds like this one is dead in the water though.
Cam:
But the word rescinded was used. Not there’s a hold up. Rescinded means rescinded. Regardless, the deadline has passed, and there cannot be modifications as far as I know to a trade. You can’t start making changes after the deadline. This trade is dead.
@Miken31 – I didn’t say anything about making changes. I said there is administration and physicals after the deadline. In fact, there is a whole disputes process regarding failed physicals under the CBA.
I’m not saying the Hornets are going to fight it – in fact, the post you’re trying to pick an argument with was about the Lakers having a weak front court after this mess.
Take a step back, before you start disputing something.
Cam:
Not sure what you’re talking about. You made a statement and I responded. The trade has been rescinded. Nothing more really needs to be said. Nothing about “administration and physicals.” It’s been rescinded.
Pretty sure the exact wording says the Lakers say its being rescinded based on them declining it based on the physical. I think that CHO still has a chance to challenge it, though they would probably be likely to lose. The trade will probably be officially rescinded tomorrow.
Trades dont become official until all the involved players take the physicals and after that if they fail the team has a thumbs up or down decision on allowing the trade to go through exactly as proposed. The Warriors faced this when the trade for GPII from POR ended up having Payton not able to play for like 6 weeks after the trade when he was supposed to be healthy, and POR was treating the injury and knew full well about it. The Warriors could have unwound the whole deal but allowed it to go through since ATL was involved and they really didnt want Wiseman back.
Once the deadline passes you cannot modify the trade at all so no pieces or money in or out. So not sure what you mean by administration things? I guess Charlotte could somehow challenge the Lakers medical evaluation and ask the league to have a NBA league dr look at him to see if the Lakers are just trying to get out of a trade they second guessed.
Lakers are hot without a center. They play better team ball. Welcome back dalton! Waive Cam Reddish.
Lol
Ben Simmons point center incoming. Actually wouldn’t be the worst. Luka and bron got good size and rebounding.
He signed with the Clippers already.
He already signed with the Clippers
Ben Simmons? He signed with the Clippers.
I don’t know if you heard, but he signed with the Clippers.
I think we literally all responded the exact same time because when I posted it, there was no other responses
Good and bad. Good they get Dalton back. Bad they are on the other side of the trade deadline. You might want to call Javale McGee.
Dwight Howard thinks he can still play too.
Cousins is playing in Taiwan I think.
Sam Vecenie was saying that he thinks they got out at the right time on him before his value tanked. His shooting has cooled since a hot start and his defense is hot garbage.
Good for the Lakers because they were overpaying big for Mark Williams.
Lakers and Charlotte should each get a few extra hours of trading time to make it fair. Or just Lakers if it’s Charlotte’s gaffe.
Lol you’re joking right?
What was the funny part
What you said isn’t funny, but he is of course questioning why you think that your suggestion has any realistic basis of happening, as if the two teams are able to go against what the CBA allows for and change the conditions of the trade, days after the deadline is over with.
I think he is saying the Lakers or CHO should get a chance to make a different trade with a different team lols
It’s called an exception and people make them all the time. They wasted precious time working on a lemon trade. They should get that time back. Fair is fair, period.
The Idea that that’s even legal in the cba or common sense
Ouch. He failed the physical for multiple reasons and none of the reasons were what caused him to miss most of last season.
Dwight Howard…congratulations you are a Los Angeles Laker! (Again)
Good on Lakers for catching something they didn’t like. That pick they gave up very well could end uo deciding half or more of Luka’s tenure (albeit that pick looked a lot more valuable pre Luka)
Get on the horn with Utah and make it happen
Make what happen with Utah? The trade deadline has passed.
What????
Too bad the deadline passed. They can’t make any more trades. They’ll have to go to the buyout market and hope a big becomes available
They should be alliwed to make another trade if they want to. Sucx for LA
@ Al…channel your inner New York….F**k L.A
They will have to use Christian Wood to stretch the D, when he gets healthy.
Expecting Wood to play defense in 2025. Good luck with that buddy
Soooooooo bad defensively….
Tough break for LAL. Getting Williams, without giving up anyone in the core rotation, appeared to be a huge coup. IMO, healthy, he’s a future All Defensive team C. But, of course, if he isn’t healthy or isn’t going to be that too often, then the value was all a mirage.
Ever watch him play? He’s not great defensively.
Yes, I’ve watched him play, NBA, college and pre-college.
Your opinion is noted; but, if he does get/stay healthy, it won’t age well.
Not great is being generous
I can tell you haven’t watched a Lakers game… lol
Yeah, LOL. With your limited understanding of the game, you’d do better assuming that you’re unable to “tell” very much about anything related to it.
All-Defensive Team? I can tell you haven’t had to go through the pain of watching the Hornets play every night. I was glad to see him go due to his lack of defense. The opposing centers coming to Spectrum Center have been having career nights. Williams has had a few offensive outbursts, but his defense has been awful. It wasn’t going to be a huge coup. I thought the Hornets had fleeced the Lakers. Guess I’ll go back to watching opposing centers score 40 a night.
Yeah DXC doesn’t watch Lakers or Hornets games…
This comment confirms this…
Legend has it that JaVale McGee has an NBA-buyout clause in Puerto Rico.
Bamba bamba ……. Key I love Lucy lol.
Good catch med staff, Shame tho, dude has unbelievable hands and grace near the rim. Would have made almost every possession w Luka a quality look
Title appearance in 25 takes a sizable hit
This is one of the issues with waiting until the last minute to complete trades before the deadline. Not blaming the Lakers, but the reality is they can’t pivot to a Plan B on the trade market.
In any event, now it makes sense why the Hornets were looking to move on from Williams and willing to take lower upside picks/players (no disrespect to Knecht). What a mess that organization is. Gonna make it harder for them to get trades done moving forward as well.
It won’t make future trades any harder to complete at all.
Why would you want to deal with a front office that lies about player medicals, assuming it wasn’t a legitimate difference of opinion? Would you trust doing a deadline deal with them knowing you might have to reverse course and be left holding the bag?
At the very least, teams will want to get business done with them well in advance so they could pivot if need be.
Agreed , probably a sizable ding on the current residing Cha front office personnel
But………They don’t have much to parcel the next couple years anyways and by then will probably have a whole new front office that gets a clean slate.
Might not mean much in end but def other GMs are clocking this today
I think Willy Cauly Stiens kicking around
Someone give Jaxson Hayes 50 lbs. and we good.
Crazy yo. What does the buyout market look like for big men?
A Wiseman once said…
Thon Maker, Robin Lopez, Javale McGee and Mo Bamba are all the available centers. Bamba and McGee make the most sense and hope that Hayes and Luka develop lob chemistry. Hope.
Kareem is available
Bamba and Theis is out there…..
They should be talking to all Centers available.
Gotta be awkward for Knecht, Reddish and Williams to go back to their old teams.
Williams be like…oh good the Charlotte Hornets.
I know they trade Knecht and kept Bronny…lol
Knecht must be excited to return to being the other guy the Lakers drafted.
:: OOOF ::
What do you suppose Knecht and Reddish are thinking right now?
And now Charlotte finds themselves with a logjam in the middle, with the arrival of Jusuf Nurkic.
Nurk thought he was gonna play lols
Their C rotation was Nurkic and a 39 year old Taj Gibson. Even with Williams back in the mix that is hardly a logjam.
Lakers got cold feet about trading Knecht so they made up some nonsense
Charlotte knew the Lakers were beatin’ the bushes for a decent center so a few days before the deadline, Charlotte called Pelinka and told him Mark Williams might be available and that they liked Knecht. So Rob P is like , “Mark Williams, really? Yes please “. And the trade was agreed upon. This trade came out of nowhere. And Pelinka, up to that point, didn’t like any of the options he was looking at. The Lakers were surprised that the Hornets would give the 23 year old center up. Now we know why. It sorta looks like maybe Charlotte tried to pull a fast one.
Nah he it’s mostly that he is brutal defensively, oft injured already in his career and the Hornets stink. Throw in that they just changed their front office and they are basically clearing the deck in Charlotte.
> It sorta looks like maybe Charlotte tried to pull a fast
> one.
Williams has played 85 of 212 games over his first 3 seasons. He’s missed over 1/2 of this season’s games.
The Lakers had view that doing the deal at the last moment this was a big risk.
By that logic shouldnt you expect stuff in the physical?
> By that logic shouldnt you expect stuff in the
> physical?
That was what I was trying to say.
Because of Williams’ extreme injury history, the Lakers wanted to be sure they could have their own docs do more than a routine physical, and make the deal contingent on their doctors’ *discretion*.
That’s different from passing a routine physical.
Tried to pull a BenSimmons on them …..
Plenty teams will want Knecht. Lakers can come for Mitch next yr. Knicks will listen.
Some laughable speculation, most of running 180 from the facts. If either team played fast and loose with the rules here it was likely the LAL. But rescinding the deal eliminates any exposure they might have.
The CBA process is simple and not optional. After a deal is filed with the league office, it’s final, subject ONLY to physicals. If the LAL had other conditions, like CHA delivering past medical records, then they shouldn’t have filed the deal until after those conditions were satisfied. They can’t retain conditions post-filing except for the physicals.
Teams perform physicals on the players they’re getting using their team doctors. Each team has the absolute right to rescind the deal if it doesn’t like the results of the physicals. They don’t have to even say why specifically. Their decision is not subject to any review. So, it’s a completely free recission right. In theory, a team could have buyer’s remorse about the substance of a deal and kill it at this point by saying they didn’t like the physical (even if it was a perfectly good physical).
Lakers mistake nice.
How frickin awkward is it going to be for Mark, Dalton and Cam to walk back into the locker room that they were just traded out of a couple days earlier!
This is good for the Lakers…
They gave up far too much for an often injured player…
Knecht is too good of a shooter to not put around LBJ but even more importanly around Luka…
They can easily get a defensive minded lob threat to replace Williams… Bamba is a facsimile and far cheaper to obtain…
I’m just wondering if people can read y’all keep discussing questions that litterly the article tells you lol…
Oh I see you are new to sports conversations in news article comment threads… lol
A lot is heavily ego based chest beating over opinions…
But there’s also a time gap of updates that people will be forced to ask questions about until the article is updated…
However it’s usually the chest beating.
The draft compensation alone would have gotten Vooch from the Bulls. Not a rim protector, but the pick and pop would have been tough..Oh well.
jimbob , the Bulls would have had to take on at least $20m in bad contracts, like Hachimura and/or Vanderbilt and/or Vincent, etc that’s why
I feel bad for Cam and Dalton. Oh we are not wanted. Lavine and his wife have a baby then you are traded to Sacramento. Didn’t Luka just buy a house in Dallas? It shows in the new NBA do not buy a house or invest where you are because there is no more loyalty left in the NBA
There’s definitely no loyalty from the owners… The players are merely pawns bar the few that are allowed to have their career at one team…
Dalton career is over. Hell just collect the checks and ride into the sunset until he can sign with someone else.