Lakers' LeBron James drops dagger quote about Hornets' Mark Williams

02/20/2025 08:29 AM

The Los Angeles Lakers returned to action after enjoying the All-Star break, but things didn’t get off to a great start, as they suffered an upset 100-97 defeat at the hands of the lowly Charlotte Hornets. Of course, L.A. faced off against Mark Williams, who they just rescinded a trade for due to various medical concerns. With the game in the books, LeBron James dropped a strong message about the team’s failed move for Williams.

The Lakers initially agreed to send Dalton Knecht, Cam Reddish, a 2031 unprotected first-round pick, and a 2030 pick swap to the Hornets in exchange for Williams. His physical raised some red flags, though, and Los Angeles ended up backing out of the deal. When asked about what it was like to face off against Williams, James kept it 100% real.

“He was never a teammate,” James said after the Lakers loss to the Hornets. “He never stepped into the locker room. He never came, we never seen him. We know the trade went down, but we never seen him. It got rescinded, it just was back to what it was before, so it was no different.”

"He was never a teammate. He never stepped into the locker room. … It was no different."

LeBron James on playing against Mark Williams after his trade to the Lakers was rescinded.

(via @mcten)pic.twitter.com/YDDisSTyfX

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) February 20, 2025

LeBron James, Lakers moving on without Mark Williams

Considering how L.A. moved their star big man, Anthony Davis, to the Dallas Mavericks in the blockbuster deal that netted them Luka Doncic, acquiring Williams would have been ideal for the Lakers. Instead, their big man rotation is now extremely thin after the Williams trade didn’t pan out. According to James, there’s no bad blood because Williams was never actually a part of the Lakers.

Now, Los Angeles will have to move on and try to find a way to go on a playoff run with the pieces they currently have at their disposal. As their loss to the Hornets showed, though, that’s going to be tough to accomplish given how weak their frontcourt is. James and the Lakers will have a shot to get themselves back on track when they take on the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday night.

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