Something strange went down at LA before February 10—something no one can quite explain. The Charlotte Hornets and the Lakers had a deal on the table, locked in as the trade deadline loomed. Dalton Knecht for Mark Williams, a straight-up swap. It was happening, and then… it wasn’t. Just like that, the deal vanished into thin air. Suspicious? Absolutely. Now imagine yourself in Williams’ position. Prepared to move to Los Angeles, to play for the legendary, but hopes then disappear into thin air. Must be painful!
What was the feeling like? Being rejected by the Los Angeles Lakers after the trade? Mark Williams has some answers. In his recent conversation with Roderick Boone of The Athletic, the 23-year-old center shared the emotional and mental toll he felt.
Mark Williams’ nearly 48 hours of a dream shattered leaving him shocked
To begin with, it was an emotional rollercoaster ride for him, “It’s crazy, your mind has to shift from you got traded, you’ve got to go to L.A. and then you’ve got to shift back from you’re not going to L.A,” he said. Less than 48 hours after sealing the deal, Lakers GM Rob Pelinka made a call that flipped everything upside down. Mark Williams wasn’t joining LeBron James and Luka Doncic after all. Just like that, the trade was off. One moment, he was a Laker.
The next, he was back with the Hornets, sitting beside Moussa Diabate at USC’s Galen Center—stunned, blindsided, and probably wondering what just happened. “I didn’t think I had failed my physical. That didn’t even cross my mind. The night I got traded I played hella minutes. I didn’t think in any world that was possible,” Mark Williams shared. ” Since I’ve been back since the start of the year, I’ve played games with a lot of minutes. I feel like every injury I’ve had has been well-documented and I’ve recovered and been 100% since. So, I don’t know what went into that decision. I think that’s up to them.”
This is a developing story…
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