The Hornets and the Lakers had a deal completed on February 9th, which sent Mark Williams to the L.A. and Dalton Knecht, Cam Reddish, a 2031 first-round pick, and a 2030 first-round pick swap to Charlotte. A couple of days later, the trade was rescinded after it was announced that the Lakers failed Williams’ physical.
The failure of his physical was very surprising, as Williams was healthy and playing for the Hornets on the night of the trade. As well, the results of the physical were also very vague, stating it had nothing to do with his previous back injury.
Most people instantly went to social media and flamed the Hornets, as it seemed like a lot of people thought the Hornets were trying to pull a fast one on the Lakers by sending a damaged/injured player and getting a young player and more in return.
However, that simply wasn’t the case. The Hornets felt like they were getting a solid return for the 23-year-old in a deal that was centered around Knecht, who the Hornets loved in the draft workouts the previous summer.
In February, an article was released by ESPN that said a team source had admitted that the Lakers had given up a lot in the trade and that they potentially “dodged a bullet.” I wonder if they still believe that now after losing to the Timberwolves in the first round in five games.
A team that acquired Luka Doncic at the trade deadline and had hopes of winning the NBA Finals didn’t even win two games in the first round. The reason why? Well, it’s simple. They didn’t have a reliable big man to rebound the ball, leading to no interior presence.
The Lakers could’ve gone through with the trade and had both of those things, but decided not to and made a joke of the Charlotte Hornets and ruined the reputation of Mark Williams while doing so. However, now, the Hornets, nor Williams, look as bad as they once did.
The reason? Williams played the majority of the remainder of the season and had solid performances. Even the national media started to side with the Hornets and put more blame on the Lakers for the failed trade.
Sure, this backfired completely for the Lakers, but it didn’t have to.
You can make the argument of the importance of their first-round picks in five or so years, but LeBron James doesn’t have too much time left, and they just wasted a year of his career by not adding a center around him when the right guy was right in their hands.
They are so thin at center that they just decided to go small-ball and watch Rudy Gobert post an insane stat line of 27 points and 24 rebounds in an elimination game.
To make matters worse, they didn’t even play Dalton Knecht rotation minutes in the playoffs, as he played a total of four minutes in the five games.
If there’s one positive to find in this whole mess, it’s that the Hornets and Mark Williams don’t look as bad as they did a couple of months ago.
