The Los Angeles Lakers have been involved in nearly all of the most shocking developments from the 2025 NBA trade deadline. The biggest was undoubtedly acquiring Luka Doncic in a trade with the Dallas Mavericks, but a somewhat close second was the team landing, then losing, center Mark Williams from the Charlotte Hornets.
It was reported on Wednesday night — about 15 hours before the trade deadline — that the Lakers would be sending Dalton Knecht, Cam Reddish, an unprotected 2031 first-round draft pick, and a 2030 first-round swap to the Hornets for the young, offensive-minded big man. The trade remained pending for three days, a rarity for any deal.
Then on Saturday night, after L.A.’s big win over the Indiana Pacers, it was announced by the Lakers and the Hornets that the trade had been rescinded due to “failure to satisfy a condition of the trade.” It wasn’t formally explained on the night of, but it was assumed — and lightly reported — that Williams failed his physical.
Williams has had back issues for the majority of his young career thus far, but according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN, there were other reasons for the failed physical:
Williams failed not because of the back injury that sidelined him most of last season, but because of multiple other issues of concern, sources said.
And because of the issues that popped up in Williams’ physical, the Lakers organization feels they may have been fortunate to catch those things before giving up a relative haul for the young center:
As for the long term, without Williams but with Knecht and the 2031 first-round pick? “That was a lot [to give up],” a team source said. “We kind of dodged a bullet.”
If Williams was the type of center the Lakers envisioned with good health, giving up Knecht and the 2031 first-rounder is a no-brainer. Williams’ talent is the kind of ceiling-raiser that makes a return like that almost insignificant in the long-term.
But with such major red flags — no specifics have been reported as to what those issues were — the Lakers are better off keeping Knecht and the draft asset and trying again to land a center in the summer.
Mark Williams trade was noticed by LeBron James’ camp
After acquiring Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis, the Lakers had a clear need at the center position. They ended up trading Dalton Knecht and draft capital to the Hornets to address that.
Although the trade was rescinded, the Lakers showed an immediate willingness to trade valuable draft picks to surround Doncic, and LeBron James, with enough talent to compete for a championship right away.
LeBron has been asking for the Lakers to trade draft picks to improve the team for a while now, but they had resisted until acquiring Doncic. That is something that James and his camp took note of and will be something worth monitoring moving forward.
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