By: Caleb Boyd
March 19th, 2025
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Among all the drama that happened during this NBA Trade Deadline season, the most confusing was the rescinded trade between the Los Angeles Lakers and Charlotte Hornets. The Hornets had a trade in place to send Center Mark Williams to the Lakers in exchange for Dalton Knecht and Cam Reddish along with additional draft capital, but the deal was contingent upon Williams passing his physical. However, Williams had failed his physical, which caused the Lakers to later rescind the deal. The Hornets disputed the rescinding of the trade, but because of the provision of the passed physical being in place, they had little ground to stand on when the Lakers said no.
On both sides, the team standpoints and financial motivations led to this trade. Currently, the Lakers are contending for a playoff position whereas Charlotte is in the middle of a rebuild. One of the reasons Charlotte likely made this deal in part because they didn’t want to pay Williams, who is extension eligible this summer before being a restricted free agent in the summer of 2026. Dalton Knecht, who was drafted in 2024, has his rookie deal for the next few seasons, with Reddish was on a short-term deal as well. With the Lakers’ recent acquisition of Luka Doncic, Los Angeles likely wanted to add a player that can help fill an immediate need. Even if they would have paid Williams this summer, they would’ve done so looking to win a championship in the near future. This trade being rescinded wipes away all of that for the time being.
It’s rare that trades are rescinded in the NBA, but the issue is that the deal had been made so close to the deadline. Had they made the move a week or so earlier, there would have been time to alter things. The NBA’s trade deadline of February 6, at 3:00PM was a hard one; no deals could be completed if the league office had not received paperwork by that time. The paperwork contained a trade that was voided, but with all of this occurring after that time period, it was too late. The most infamous trade being rescinded in NBA history (vetoed in this specific case) was the Chris Paul trade in 2011, when the Hornets agreed to send him to the Lakers in what was a massive deal. The reason why this happened is because at the time, the NBA was overseeing the Hornets due to an issue with ownership. Commissioner David Stern felt that the deal didn’t make sense and that the agreed-upon package for a player of Paul’s caliber was not up to par. It is also worth noting that most trades contain a component of players passing their physicals; we just don’t hear about them because it isn’t an issue in most cases. It was here, though, and it will be a situation that likely results in either an extension for Mark Williams with the Hornets this offseason or a trade.
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