While Luka Doncic’s trade to the LA Lakers may have been the talk of the window a failed attempt to bring Mark Williams in wasn’t far off.
The Lakers had agreed a trade with the Charlotte Hornets to bring in the center seeing Dalton Knecht and Cam Reddish head in the opposite direction.
However, at the last minute, Williams failed his physical with concerns flagged. Williams recently stated: “I didn’t think I had failed my physical. That didn’t even cross my mind.”
Williams had missed around a year of action before returning in December and has played 24 games in total the season, including helping the Hornets defeat the Lakers 97-100 in the first game back since the All-Star game.
The 23-year-old dropped 10 points and 9 rebounds in the win over the Lakers further proving that the Lakers may have made a mistake not going through with the deal.
A move for Williams was said to be done to appease Doncic, the Lakers are now without a solid center until the summer. It could prove costly for them going into the playoffs.
Williams has now questioned whether or not his physical was truly the reason that the trade was called off.
Asked if he received feedback on why the Lakers had issues with his physical, he told Sportskeeda: “Nah I didn’t. I didn’t really want to hear anything, to be honest with you.” Williams added, “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.”
Despite missing out on Williams the Lakers signed former Sacramento Kings center Alex Len as a free agent, a stop-gap, who will be a backup to Jaxson Hayes.
While the Lakers have filled their Anthony Davis-sized gap for the time being it is likely they will look to strengthen in that area going forward.
James Worthy pointed out that the Lakers were missing a quality rim protector following their loss to the Utah Jazz stating that it was ‘lay-up city.’
The Lakers now have both Alex Len and Jaxson Hayes as centre options but there is little doubt that Williams would have started over both.
| Alex Len | Jaxson Hayes | Mark Williams | |
| Points | 1.5 | 5.9 | 15.3 |
| Rebounds | 1.9 | 4.2 | 9.6 |
| Assists | 0.8 | 1.0 | 2.5 |
| Blocks | 0.5 | 0.9 | 1.1 |
| Steals | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.6 |
It looks unlikely that the Lakers will revisit their attempts to sign Williams, but one thing that is for certain is they will be looking to bring in a top-class center soon, especially if Luka requested it.
