Lakers' botched Mark Williams trade continues to get messier after agent's comments

The Los Angeles Lakers' failed Mark Williams trade got even messier on Thursday, when Williams' agent released a statement to ESPN's Dave McMenamin refuting the team's claim that he failed his physical.

"The overwhelming sentiment, after conferring with multiple, nationally recognized doctors, is that the Los Angeles Lakers should not have failed Mark Williams on his physical," Jeff Schwartz of Excel Sports Management said in the statement. "Mark was ready and able to play for them and should have been given that opportunity."

The deal was the last piece of what was supposed to be a very, very successful trade deadline for the Lakers. They turned Anthony Davis into Luka Doncic via some form of witchcraft that the human mind cannot fully comprehend, and found the kind of productive, capable young big man they needed to bolster both sides of the ball in Williams, getting him back for a package of Dalton Knecht, a 2030 pick swap, and LA's 2031 first-round pick.

Instead, it's turned into an unexpected albatross for the Lakers as they kick off their post-All Star break push for the playoffs. Williams failed his physical on the Los Angeles side of things, but not due to the back injury he's been dealing with, or any piece of his injury history, according to the Lakers at the time. That killed the trade, and prompted outcry from the Hornets (who are in the process of weighing their options on appealing the physical), and now Williams' agent.

Williams hasn't exactly been the healthiest player during his NBA career; he's played in just 86 of a possible 213 games with the Hornets due largely to back and foot injuries.

That his agent is pushing back is no surprise; moving from Charlotte to LA would have been a massive boon for a player of Williams' caliber, and his agent would've seen the benefits of that boost quickly. His job is to protect Williams' interests, and in this case, those interest are quite clearly going to the Lakers.

This isn't to say the Lakers made the wrong decision in canceling the trade. They clearly saw something in his physicals that concerned them enough to kill the deal, although it's not clear what they saw that no one else has seen to this point. And they can't exactly go leaking information on what they did find in the physical, given confidentiality laws.

What is clear, though, is that this has gotten far messier than one would expect a failed trade to get. It's hardly the first time a deal has fallen through due to a failed physical, but to see a team and agent push this hard after it falls through is rare.

Unfortunately for them, there's not much the Lakers can do at this point but wait for it to die down, and hope the mess doesn't continue to spread.

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