The Los Angeles Lakers thought they had landed their center of the future before the February 2025 deadline, shortly after they landed Luka Dončić. LA's newest superstar let the front office know he wanted to play with a lob threat, and Rob Pelinka delivered on that request by trading Mark Williams. Or, at least he thought he did, but the team rescinded the trade after a failed physical.
Since then, the Lakers have been proven right not to move forward with the Williams trade. The main critique of the trade (before Los Angeles sent the center back to Charlotte) was his injury history.
Unfortunately, he hasn't been able to shed the injury-prone label, as ESPN's Shams Charania reported Friday that Williams underwent surgery Thursday to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder.
Phoenix Suns center Mark Williams underwent surgery Thursday to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder and will miss an extended period of time, sources tell ESPN. Williams suffered the injury in an offseason workout. pic.twitter.com/iXVlVVItv4
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 11, 2026
John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports tweeted that, based on what he's heard, Williams is expected to miss at least five months. If that's the recovery timeline, he won't step on the court for the first time in the 2026-27 season until mid-February, around two months before the regular season ends.
The Suns are now in a bind, with their starting center out for an extended period of time, a position that the Lakers could've been in had the trade gone through, even more so because they agreed to send the Hornets an unprotected first-round pick and a first-round pick swap.
Kessler was the better option for the Lakers
Los Angeles didn't know when it rescinded the trade that it'd take a year and a half to land its actual center of the future. That finally happened this summer with the sign-and-trade for Walker Kessler.
Yes, the Lakers paid a high price for Kessler, sending two unprotected first-round picks and two first-round pick swaps, but they clearly believe that it was a bet worth taking.
Similar to Williams, there has been chatter about Kessler's injury history. That makes sense (to a degree), since the center played only five games last season for Utah after undergoing surgery in November to repair a labrum tear, like Williams.
Kessler has been cleared to return, so he'll be ready to start the season for the Lakers. Given his recovery time, the nature of the injury, and the fact that he's now on a new team, he'll probably be on a bit of a learning curve once the season begins, but that's expected.
Some fans will probably be holding their breath watching Kessler play, at least at the start of the season, because of what LA invested in his future. It doesn't help that he's been painted as injury-prone, like Williams, even though that isn't the case.
Kessler played a career-high 74 games as a rookie with the Jazz, 64 in 2023-24, and 58 in 2024-25. Keep in mind, too, that Utah spent the past few years in tank mode, but even then, averaging 65 games per season in his first three years isn't the red flag that some have tried to make it out to be.
It's unfortunate for Williams that he was caught in the middle of a rescinded trade after he believed that he would call Los Angeles home, but the Lakers were right not to proceed after his failed physical. They had to wait longer than they would've liked to get the young center they were looking for (sorry, Deandre), but the Kessler trade was a much safer bet than the Williams one.
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