Mark Williams was supposed to join the Los Angeles Lakers in early February.
The Lakers were prepared to trade Dalton Knecht, Cam Reddish, and future picks to the Charlotte Hornets for the 7-foot-1 center.
However, after a failed physical, Los Angeles was forced to rescind the trade and find another big man to fill the void left by Anthony Davis (the franchise traded him to the Dallas Mavericks days before the botched trade).
During a recent episode of The Old Man and the Three podcast, Williams sent a blunt four-word message to the Lakers regarding the unsuccessful deal.
“Honestly, like, (expletive) y'all,” Williams stated before explaining his sentiment toward the 17-time NBA champions.
“I mean, really, I was excited to go there. I thought I was, like, a piece that could really help them. Obviously, going into the playoffs, and then once they lost, obviously, I tweeted a little smiley face. Like, I was I was hating. I was hating. I was hating."
To Williams’ point, Los Angeles could have used the Duke product against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of last year’s playoffs.
The Lakers signed Alex Len shortly after they were unable to secure Williams' services, but the former lottery pick was, quite frankly, a liability for Los Angeles.
As a result, Rudy Gobert dominated the Lakers in the low post and helped Minnesota swiftly advance to the Western Conference Semifinals.
That said, it wasn’t like the Lakers weren’t interested in adding Williams to their roster. Williams’ inability to complete an essential step in the trade process ultimately led to the 10-month-old deal falling through.
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