The Charlotte Hornets centre Mark Williams will not join the Los Angeles Lakers after their proposed trade cancelled.
ESPN’s Shams Charania has reported that Williams did not pass the physical testing. The physical evaluation resulted in his failure yet the back injury was not responsible.
The transaction involving Caleb Martin as part of his trade to the Dallas Mavericks suffered difficulties independent from the final day of the negotiating window.
A restructuring deal remained achievable in which the Philadelphia 76ers needed to transfer one more second-round draught selection.
All attempted methods from the Lakers to secure the trade fell short of achieving their goal.
The Draught selections that the Los Angeles team was supposed to transfer to other organisations will remain under the control of the California franchise.
Following the Williams trade the Lakers regained 15 contracted regular players and exceeded the second fine tier by $1.6 million. The team must deal with the most expensive personnel costs in all of NBA at this moment.
The team’s salary position above the second tier prohibits them from acquiring players with seasonal salaries exceeding $12.8 million.
But, the organisation needs to release a player who has a contract to approve the hiring of a pivot.
The trade of Anthony Davis to Dallas Mavericks for Luka Doncic leaves the team without a suitable replacement.
As the starting centre Mark Williams will play under the Lakers’ starting lineup whereas Jaxson Hayes maintains backup duties.
Three players currently available to the team as options are Christian Koloko alongside Christian Wood and Trey Jamison. Wood stands alone with a standard contract out of the available three players.
Despite being present on all rosters he is the solitary player who has not entered any matches during the 2024/25 NBA season because of his injury.
The impending release of a contract-expiring player such as Wood gives the Lakers an opportunity to search for another player on the market.
