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Dave McMenamin
THE LOS ANGELES LAKERS stunned the basketball world by dealing for franchise cornerstone Luka Doncic five days before the NBA trade deadline, and then stunned everyone all over again two days after it when they rescinded their swap for 7-foot center Mark Williams.
For 48 hours, at least, the Lakers existed in the rare competitive territory of improving in the present, for LeBron James, while also fortifying the future of the franchise. It’s the state of operation that can make an organization’s championship standard a reality.
Just as soon as the transformation set in, the Lakers shifted gears to a different present reality.
At 9:01 p.m. ET Saturday, nearly a week after the Doncic deal was agreed on — costing Anthony Davis, Max Christie and the Lakers’ 2029 first-round pick — the Williams trade was nixed. Williams was to join the Lakers in exchange for rookie Dalton Knecht and Cam Reddish in a trade with the Charlotte Hornets that was agreed to Wednesday night. But Williams failed L.A.’s physical exam, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania. Williams failed not because of the back injury that sidelined him most of last season, but because of multiple other issues of concern, sources said.
Beyond the awkward reunion when Knecht and Reddish report back to the Lakers (team sources expect both to return in the coming days), the roster’s present construction, to quote vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka, “has continued work to do to become complete.”
The problem is that the trade deadline has passed. The window is closed. And the situations for James and Doncic suddenly aren’t as congruent.
Rather than Pelinka having results to show after his first extended meeting with Doncic at the team’s practice facility Feb. 3, when Doncic handpicked Williams for the GM to attempt to land, a source familiar with the matter said, the first transaction of their partnership defaulted.
The team is left with Jaxson Hayes, a springy yet green career backup, as its starting center. The only other big men on the roster are Christian Wood, who has been sidelined all season because of left knee surgery, and two-way contract players Christian Koloko and Trey Jemison III.
Williams, 23, was targeted to not only grow alongside the 25-year-old Doncic, but provide a lob threat and physical presence this postseason to steel L.A.’s frontline against the likes of the Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies, Denver Nuggets and Oklahoma City Thunder, team sources said.
A wild week for the franchise, with one team source describing the Lakers’ approach as “aggressive,” became more of a half measure. The culmination of perhaps the most chaotic, transformational trade deadline in Lakers history has left the team failing in its first attempt to satisfy Doncic — ever aware that he will become a free agent in 2026 and that L.A. wants to make his decision to sign a contract extension a foregone conclusion — and failing to maximize James’ 22nd season by ultimately not obtaining a big that Pelinka admitted the roster was lacking.
The team’s ability to pivot from Williams will be critical for this group’s chances, and limiting the fallout will allow L.A. to restore the momentum it has been building in the short term. As for the long term, without Williams but with Knecht and the 2031 first-round pick? “That was a lot [to give up],” a team source said. “We kind of dodged a bullet.”
BEFORE THE WILLIAMS trade was agreed to Wednesday night, there was debate inside the Lakers organization about whether he was worth the haul it would take to acquire him — especially considering his injury history.
Williams has missed nearly two-thirds of the Hornets’ games with various back, ankle, knee and foot injuries since being drafted in 2022.
L.A. revamped its medical staff in the offseason, hiring Dr. Leroy Sims as its director of player performance and health after he previously worked for the NBA as the head of the league’s medical operations. “We fully vetted [Williams’] 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.”
Sims’ presence, plus coach JJ Redick’s confidence in Williams’ character after developing a rapport through their alma mater, Duke University, gave the Lakers a belief that they could maximize the big man’s talents, team sources said. Kurt Rambis, the Lakers’ senior basketball adviser, supported the move as well, pointing out that guys that size don’t really come into their bodies until they reach their mid-to-late twenties. “I got to give some credit to Rambo,” Pelinka said. “He thinks the upside is very real.”
When Williams reported for his physical, however, the team identified additional concerns, sources said, causing the Lakers to reassess the risk of the deal.
Though parting with Knecht and a first-rounder was considered a steep price compared with other deadline deals around the league, Pelinka made the trade, sources said, to establish goodwill with Doncic and improve the current roster. It was, team sources said, an “all in” deadline. Even if the Williams trade fell apart, “it wasn’t for lack of trying,” one source said. There was also some internal calculus on the real value of that 2031 pick, sources said. Plus, Williams’ fit was a necessity, one Lakers source said; Knecht’s was a luxury.
The Lakers considered adding bruising 6-10 center Jericho Sims, sources said, before he was moved from New York to Milwaukee on Wednesday for Delon Wright as an addition to the Kyle Kuzma-for-Khris Middleton deal. Sims would have fit the “stuff around the margins” category that Pelinka vowed the team would explore during Doncic’s introductory news conference Tuesday because, the GM said, “the market for bigs right now … is very dry. There’s just not a lot available.”
Hornets executive vice president of basketball operations Jeff Peterson presented Williams as an option to the Lakers following that news conference, Pelinka said. “This opportunity came to us,” Pelinka said Thursday. “Maybe it’s in some sense like the L.A. housing market. Not every house is listed. And sometimes you become aware of something that’s available that’s not on the market. And when you see the perfect house, you’re willing to go get it, even if you have to be aggressive to do it. I think that’s how we looked at the Mark Williams opportunity when we opened up discussions with Charlotte.”
The Hornets, in a statement issued after the trade was rescinded, framed the communication differently. “After the other team aggressively pursued Mark, we made the difficult decision to move him,” the statement read.
Even if the Lakers avoided a potential pitfall with Williams’ health, the immediate aftermath of reversing the trade has consequences. The team will need to repair its relationship with Knecht, for one. His agents, Anthony Coleman and Mike Lindeman of Excel Sports Management, had no comment on the rescinded deal when reached by ESPN on Saturday. And then there is the perception of fumbled execution by the front office.
“Nobody did the research prior?” a league source said. “Why would [Williams] be available that young?” And the market for big men is now even drier.
Center Alex Len, who was waived by the Washington Wizards, intends to sign with the Indiana Pacers, sources told Charania on Saturday. Len is one player L.A. could have pursued, sources said.
The Lakers can still waive someone — Wood or Reddish would be the top candidates, team sources said — to create a roster vacancy to bring in another center. L.A. still has enough room under the second apron to sign a buyout player, someone making less than $12.8 million with his previous team, for the rest of the season. “We will find another center path,” a team source said. “The path is always there. We just got to put in the work to find it.”
In the interim, Hayes has been a bright spot. During the Lakers’ five-game winning streak since Davis left the Philadelphia loss early with an abdominal injury, Hayes has averaged 8.0 points on 77.3% shooting, 6.6 rebounds, 1.8 blocks and 1.0 steals.
It’s a major role for him, and one that James had privately wondered whether the 24-year-old Hayes was experienced enough to occupy in a playoff run next to Davis before Davis was traded, sources said. Without Davis, the responsibilities multiply.
Hayes will have Doncic’s support, however. He was the first of Doncic’s new Lakers teammates to go to dinner with him once he arrived in Los Angeles, as Hayes, Doncic and their mutual agent, Bill Duffy of WME, dined together at Ocean Prime in Beverly Hills.
“When he was in Dallas and I was in New Orleans my first few years, they kept trying to trade for me,” Hayes told ESPN on Saturday after posting 9 points, 12 rebounds and 2 blocks in a win over Indiana with Doncic and James watching on the bench. “New Orleans never allowed it. He was like, ‘Do you remember when we couldn’t trade for you?’ I was like, ‘Do you remember what I told you after every game I played against you?’ After every game I would be like, ‘If you ever need a big, I would love to play with you.’ Just because of the way he moves the ball.”
How Doncic’s and James’ opinions align on Hayes will be the first test of their partnership that could last months or go on for years, depending on how the rest of this season pans out.
What is clear is that Doncic will have a say. And it wasn’t lost on James’ camp, sources said, that Pelinka prioritized Doncic’s involvement upon his arrival and immediately engaged in the Williams trade that he’d asked for, when James had for years wanted the team to trade its picks to improve its roster.
SITTING AT THE end of the bench Thursday night, Doncic sprung from his seat with 9:07 left in the second quarter, spreading his arms wide with three fingers on each hand pointing upward, mimicking James’ exact pose at center court.
James had just drilled his third straight 3-pointer in under a minute, prompting the Warriors to call timeout to stop the bleeding. The Luka-less Lakers were already up 22.
By the end of the night, after becoming the second player in NBA history to top 40 points after his 40th birthday, James sat back in his chair in the locker room, beaming with excitement.
The Lakers had just finished their 10th win in 12 games, with an average margin of victory of 15.6 points. James was asked what concerns he might have integrating what would have eventually been two new starters.
“I don’t really see a challenge,” he said. “Everybody get in the right spots. Hold each other accountable. Play basketball the right way. Share the ball. The ball is going to be in Luka’s hands. It’s going to be in [Austin Reaves‘] hands. Two great decision-makers. It’s going to be in my hands a little bit as well. Another great decision-maker. And then our guys are going to feast off of it. I mean, that’s a beautiful thing.”
Sitting to his left was Markieff Morris, who had joined the Lakers as part of the Dallas deal, at Davis’ former locker.
It was a stark reminder. These moves don’t come without risk.
By keeping his negotiations with Mavericks GM Nico Harrison closed, and parting with someone so close to James without his signoff, Pelinka’s move could have easily caused James to want out, too. Instead, James understood the business decision and accepted that it was a deal they had to make, sources close to the veteran said.
Beyond their own belief in Doncic as a franchise cornerstone, Pelinka was aware of James’ affinity for Doncic. James had praised Doncic publicly in his “Mind the Game” podcast co-hosted with Redick last spring. The GM figured James would see the move as a basketball fit, sources said.
Though Pelinka said Tuesday that “the urgency is ever-present” for the Lakers to win championships, urgency can come in degrees. For James, in his 22nd season, every postseason he plays in is his last best chance to win a fifth ring. For Doncic, there is natural urgency to avenge last year’s NBA Finals loss to Boston with a title this season, but L.A. hopes to present the 25-year-old many more championship opportunities than just this spring.
As much as the praise for one another that James and Doncic have shared seems genuine, their differing timelines creates a natural tension — one the franchise tried, but ultimately failed, to reconcile this deadline.
IN THE HIGH-STAKES game of attempting to perpetuate the Lakers’ status as the league’s glamour franchise, while the NBA continues to ratify new rules to promote parity, every move executed — or rescinded — counts even more. If Harrison had never approached Pelinka, a transformative deadline might have been for naught.
The Lakers would have listened to Davis’ request to play alongside another big to spend more time at power forward — and tried to trade for one.
If L.A. had done so, teaming Davis with another center as he was in 2020 with Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee, perhaps the Lakers would have found similar success. If it didn’t work though, the Lakers would have fewer assets to find their next star, with no guarantee that Davis, who will be 32 this summer, would want to stay in L.A. for what’s left of his prime. Davis, sources said, was concerned about being left with a roster that was fitted for James, with few options to change it when James retires.
As painful as it was for many in the organization to bid farewell to Davis — he was universally well-liked — he joined a contender with capable centers who will allow him to play at the 4, a coach in Jason Kidd who was an assistant on the Lakers 2020 championship team, and a GM in Harrison who worked closely with him as his brand manager when Harrison was at Nike. Plus, being on the same timeline as the 31-year-old Irving, Davis believes he will be there long enough to put down roots and sign a contract extension, sources said.
Instead, the Lakers believe they found their next face of the franchise in Doncic, but his arrival brings with it a directive to appease him to secure a contract extension in 2026, or risk being stuck in the same predicament as they were in 2013, when Howard left L.A. in the lurch because he didn’t want to team with an aging Kobe Bryant.
The characters have changed, but the drama remains. And maybe that’s part of what it takes to perpetuate what the Lakers are actually selling.
“I mean, this is the Lakers. This is a larger-than-life, legacy franchise,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said Saturday. “This is an amazing opportunity for Luka. And I think certainly LeBron and him have an affinity for each other that goes back to really Luka’s first year in the league. The whole thing is an amazing string of events.”