Lakers earned themselves a hater for life with one simple move

The Los Angeles Lakers wanted Mark Williams. Williams wanted to don purple and gold. Rob Pelinka and the front office changed their minds. That remains a sore spot for the athletic center.

Los Angeles needed help in the frontcourt after the Luka Doncic trade. Williams, who was with the Charlotte Hornets at the time, soon found himself on the way to Hollywood to help fix that problem. A failed physical created hesitancy and ultimately led to the trade for Williams being rescinded.

The former Hornets center had to wait until the offseason to find a new home. The Phoenix Suns did not share the Lakers' viewpoint on Williams' health when they made the move to bring him to Arizona. Amid all this, the former first-round pick admitted the feelings have been far from neutral on his end when it comes to the team that changed their mind.

"Honestly, like, f*** y'all," Williams said during an appearance on The Old Man and The Three. "I mean, really. I was excited to go there. I thought I was a piece that could really help them. ... Then, once they lost, obviously, I tweeted a little smiley face. I was hating, I was hating. That was crazy."

Mark Williams still holds ill will towards the Lakers — and it's understandable why

The big point of contention here was the physical. The Lakers claimed there was enough there to warrant doubt, hence why they backpedaled out of the trade. However, that stance was not without dispute from other parties. Whatever the case was, Williams did not end up in Los Angeles.

In Phoenix, the Laker for a day has been pretty productive during 2025-26. Williams has averaged 12.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, 1.2 steals, and 0.9 blocks in 23.9 minutes per game. The Suns center is also shooting 65.6 percent from the field.

Perhaps the risk management has more to do with the surrendering of assets. The Lakers are certainly not stocked in that department, and anything other than a sure thing would have caused justifiable reason for panic.

On the other hand, the move to back out of the trade has backfired for reasons having to do with Dalton Knecht. The 2024 first-round pick has struggled to play a meaningful role with the Lakers in the aftermath of awkwardly returning to Los Angeles.

Williams will always be an odd blip in the Lakers history after they acquired Doncic. By the sound of his comments, there may be resentment over that for for a while too.