According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the Charlotte Hornets have been in contact with the league over the Lakers backing out of the Mark Williams trade.
The Charlotte Hornets have been in contact with the NBA as they explore options to dispute the Los Angeles Lakers' failed physical assessment of Mark Williams, sources tell ESPN. The Williams/Dalton Knecht trade was nixed Saturday, and now Hornets weigh avenues to challenge.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 11, 2025
To summarize, the Hornets agreed to trade Mark Williams to the Lakers for Dalton Knecht, Cam Reddish, and some future first round pick compensation on Thursday. The teams did all of the usual business welcoming all of their new players and such. On Saturday, word came out that the Lakers were backing out of the deal claiming that Williams failed his physical. That meant all of the players would return to their original team and the draft compensation was no longer owed.
It’s always seemed a little suspect. Williams hasn’t had any injury issues since he returned from an injured foot tendon back in December. He’s sat out a few games, but those have been a matter of load management rather than recurring problems. He’s been playing consistently and playing well. To fail a physical out of the blue is very strange.
Adding to the suspiciousness of it all are the reports that there was hesitance on the part of the Lakers throughout the dealmaking process, and the failed physical seems to keep getting linked to what the Lakers gave up to acquire Williams. If a player fails a physical, he fails a physical. He shouldn’t be failing a physical with consideration for the price the team paid to acquire the player.
On top of all that, I’m skeptical of anything a team could find during a physical exam that could be predictive of some sort of long term or future injury problems. Most NBA players are going to have something that could be regarded as an “injury” if they were to undergo a comprehensive scan. It seems more likely that the Lakers could find one of those things and flag it as a failed physical than they could find something that would indicate actual significant injury concerns. Again, Mark Williams has been playing a lot of basketball without issue for the last couple of months.
We’ll see if anything comes of this. I’m not optimistic the league is going to do anything to help the Hornets out here. I don’t know if there’s any precedent for this, but the best case scenario I can imagine is some sort of independent review of Williams’ health to determine whether or not the Lakers have valid concerns that justify nixing a trade that was already agreed to.
The Hornets also find themselves in a bit of tough spot with Williams if this trade ultimately fails for good. They released a statement talking about how excited they were to have Mark back, but they clearly aren’t excited enough to simply take him back. They’re trying very hard to make sure he gets traded to the Lakers, and it’s hard to see the team and Williams having a long term future together with that happening.
