The bridges are burned between Mark Williams and the Lakers.
Williams, a Laker for a hot minute this year before the franchise nixed the deal due to medical concerns, gloated after the Timberwolves eliminated the Lakers in Game 5 of their first-round series Wednesday.
“🙂,” Williams tweeted, letting the emoji do the talking for him.
He also posted to his Instagram Story an image of the popular meme featuring a man who claimed to be at an enemy’s funeral just to make sure his rival had truly died.
It’s understandable why Williams is salty since the Lakers’ decision cost him the chance to compete for a championship and instead stay with the always-terrible Hornets.
After acquiring Luka Doncic from the Mavericks, the Lakers lined up a deal with Charlotte to acquire Williams and provide much-needed size.
Three days after agreeing to the deal, Los Angeles backed out due to a failed physical.
The development stunned Williams.
“My agent told me,” Williams said in February, according to the Charlotte Observer. “I didn’t think I had failed my physical. That didn’t even cross my mind. The night I got traded I played hella minutes. I didn’t think in any world that was possible. Since I’ve been back since the start of the year, I’ve played games with a lot of minutes. I feel like every injury I’ve had has been well-documented and I’ve recovered and been 100 percent since. So, I don’t know what went into that decision. I think that’s up to them.”
The Lakers still grabbed the No. 3 seed without Williams but they sure could have used a big man Wednesday when they allowed the normally defensive-minded Rudy Gobert to morph into Shaq.
Gobert tallied a monster double-double of 27 points and 24 rebounds to lead the Timberwolves to a 103-96 win that now makes LeBron James’ future a storyline to discuss.
Williams, 23, averaged 15.3 points and 10.2 rebounds this season and could have potentially limited Gobert in a pivotal Game 5, but the concern with the big man has always been his availability.
He played in 21 of the 30 games remaining for the lottery-bound Hornets after the deal fell through. And in his career, he’s appeared in just 106 of a potential 246 career regular-season games.
Dalton Knecht, the sharpshooting rookie who was the main piece going back to Charlotte in the trade, was a non-factor against Minnesota.
Knecht appeared in two games for a total of three minutes as the Lakers unraveled due to depth issues.
