The Lakers’ trade for center Mark Williams has been “rescinded” because of a “failure to satisfy a condition of the trade,” the Lakers announced Saturday night.
Williams failed his physical, according to people with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly. Dalton Knecht and Cam Reddish will remain with the Lakers, who also will retain their 2031 first-round pick.
The rescinded trade leaves the Lakers with Jaxson Hayes as the lone center on the roster and robs the team of the 7-footer it hoped to pair with newly acquired Luka Doncic.
The Lakers have big men Christian Koloko and Trey Jemison III on two-way deals, but two-way players are not eligible for the postseason. With Knecht and Redish back, the roster is full at 15 players.
Williams has missed significant time because of ankle, back and knee issues since being drafted by the Charlotte Hornets in the first round in 2022, playing just 85 games in two-plus seasons. Questions about his health were raised around the NBA after the Lakers struck the deal, according to people with knowledge of the situation.
The deal, which also included a 2030 draft-pick swap, came as a bit of a surprise around the league, with most people under the assumption that Charlotte wasn’t trading Williams.
Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka said last week the team was not concerned about Williams’ past injuries but still would do “a deep dive” during his physical.
“So we fully vetted his health stuff,” Pelinka said Thursday. “… He’s had no surgeries. So these are just parts of, he’s still growing into his body. We vetted the injuries he’s had and we’re not concerned about those. We will have a chance to have a physical and continue to do a deep dive and make sure that what we’ve talked about and seen in the EMRs, we’re confident. So we’ll still have that step in the process of doing a full physical before the trade becomes official.”
Williams had a locker inside the Lakers locker room on Saturday at Crypto.com Arena, but it was empty. He was listed as “questionable” because the trade was pending.
He had missed just five games since making his season debut Dec. 3.
Hayes has started the last five games and is averaging 8.0 points and 6.6 rebounds.
