According to the Los Angeles Lakers, they have rescinded their trade with the Charlotte Hornets featuring Mark Williams and Dalton Knecht.

Reports revealed that Charlotte’s side was a “failure to satisfy a condition of the trade.” Williams did fail his physical, but it wasn’t for his back. Even though it wasn’t his back, Los Angeles did find multiple issues.

Knecht will return to the Lakers, and Williams will return to the Hornets. The official trade was Knecht, Cam Reddish, a 2031 first-rounder, and a pick swap for Charlotte’s Williams.

With the rookie returning to his original team, the Lakers will need to clear a spot for him to be able to rejoin.

Los Angeles will now need to find a new center but cannot access the full buyout market due to being a first apron team; players who were previously making more than the midlevel exception can’t sign with the Lakers.

The available free agents are JaVale McGee, Mo Bamba, Daniel Theis, Chimezie Metu, and Damian Jones. It is unclear whether the Lakers and Dwight Howard would want a reunion.

According to Marc J. Spears, Luka Doncic is looking to make his debut on February 10th against the Utah Jazz. That would line up with his original return date of February 8th.

Doncic had not played a game since he reinjured his calf on Christmas Day. The game against Utah would take place in Los Angeles.

“I’m hearing he’s targeting next week,” said Spears of Doncic’s debut with the Lakers. “The Lakers play at home against Utah next Monday. And on the road in Utah next Wednesday. A potential return from his calf injury.”

This decision was presumably discussed over dinner with JJ Redick after landing in Los Angeles Sunday night.

“I heard when Luka flew in last night, certainly, there was a lot of disappointment, anger, a lot of emotions. When he got in, he got off the plane and he spoke to Rob Pelinka for a while. That’s when reality started hitting. ‘Yo, I’m a Laker. This is kind of cool. This is great. I’m amongst celebrities. I’m in L.A. There’s a history here.'”

According to The Athletic’s Sam Amick, the Los Angeles Lakers grew “frustrated” with LeBron James and Anthony Davis complaining about upgrading the roster.

It grew when the two stars began publicly airing their concerns and frustrations. LeBron always believed they were a move or two away from legit contention, while Davis wanted to go back to playing power forward once they acquired a center.

The organization took it into its hands to solve the complaints by trading Davis to get Luka Doncic.

Los Angeles felt that Davis, who is 31 years old, wasn’t a “1-A” talent and couldn’t be trusted due to his durability and availability issues.

Marc Stein reports that the Dallas Mavericks were only interested in Davis, not LeBron James. Dallas came to Los Angeles with the deal, as general manager Nico Harrison has strong ties to Davis due to their relationship at Nike.