Hornets' Mark Williams questions Lakers' reason for rescinded trade

Technically, the Los Angeles Lakers rescinded a deal for Charlotte Hornets center Mark Williams “due to failure to satisfy a condition of the trade” and determining he didn’t pass his physical.

In his first game with the Hornets since the Lakers nixed the trade, however, Williams shared suspicions that the Lakers may have had remorse over dealing rookie guard Dalton Knecht, veteran forward Cam Reddish, a 2031 first-round pick and a 2030 pick swap.

“I don’t know for them, if it was what they gave up or went into that reasoning. But I don’t think it was solely because of my physical,” Williams said following the Hornets’ 100-97 win over the Lakers on Wednesday at Crypto.com Arena. “I’ve been playing all year. And I think my minutes and production on the court speak for itself.”

Williams played in only 19 games last season while nursing a lower back injury for most of the 2023-24 campaign. He also strained a tendon in his left foot that caused him to miss the Hornets’ first 20 games of the 2024-25 season. Aside from missing 11 more games for maintenance purposes, however, Williams had averaged a career-high 15.6 points on 58.6% percent shooting and 9.6 rebounds in 23 games. Earlier this season, Williams spoke to Sportskeeda extensively about how he overcame injuries and became efficient in various ways as a scorer.

Therefore, it initially seemed understandable for the Lakers to make the deal shortly after acquiring Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris in exchange for Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a 2029 first-round pick. The Lakers hoped to bolster their frontcourt depth both to improve their defense and give both Doncic and LeBron James a lob threat. The Lakers decided otherwise on Feb. 8, three days after the original deal. Lakers coach JJ Redick declined to address the topic before Wednesday’s game.

“Obviously the last two weeks have been national attention. It’s not really something that happens very often,” Williams said. “So I think just the rest of the way being able to show the player that I am, I feel like I’ve been doing that all year and I’ll just try to continue to do that.”

Williams described the recent developments as “crazy” and “tough” before calling it “pretty ironic” that he would return against the Lakers after missing the past three games because of both the original deal and the rescinded trade. Hornets coach Charles Lee also said “we definitely had some conversations and some text messages” that he kept private following the nixed deal.

Nonetheless, Lee considered Williams’ return as “a seamless kind of transition back with the group because he’s built so many deep bonds” after the Hornets selected him at No. 15 in the 2022 NBA Draft.

Well, almost. James threw down a vicious poster dunk over Williams. He laughed off that play afterward. It helped that the Hornets (14-39) collected a rare win, while Williams posted 10 points while shooting 3-for-7 from the field and 4-for-4 from the free-throw line along with nine rebounds.

“That wasn’t going to be difficult. Obviously I’ve been here my whole career so far,” Williams said. “So them welcoming me back – staff, players – it was pretty seamless in that regard.”

As for seeking an explanation on what issue the Lakers had with his physical? That’s a different story.

“I didn’t really want to hear anything, to be honest with you,” Williams said. “I didn’t think there was any world where I could fail my physical. Every time I’ve been out, it’s been documented.”

Mark Medina is an NBA insider for Sportskeeda. Follow him on X, Blue Sky, Instagram, Facebook and Threads.