Post#1402 » by Walt Cronkite » Thu Feb 13, 2025 5:07 pm
Something I've been thinking about as this drama has developed over the past week: what if the Hornets had another deal in place for Mark, especially another WC team. Like Mark to Memphis for Kennard and picks or to Denver for Braun and picks, (idk, you guys can figure out the fake trade, it's hypothetical). Lakers don't want Mark to go to a rival and he also fills a need, so they offer the package that Peterson accepted. Pelinka thinks he's committed another brilliant piece of GMing and made his new acquisition happy and the cost was future picks that he expects don't matter (because obviously Lakers will be good) and gave up a guy that maybe doesn't fit in.
Hornets FO, who was pretty high on Knecht, decides this is the best offer and commits to it. Pelinka gets backlash from his own FO about the trade and the media calls it a win for Charlotte and he starts having regrets. Mark comes in, gets the physical and lets say in the imaging the doctor points to some potential cartilage wearing in his foot or wrist or wherever. Not a definite concern for his long term health, but maybe it could limit his career longevity by a year or two. Pelinka, who has already annoyed LeBron by using his final assets to acquire Mark without consulting him, decides there is no reason NOT to rescind the trade. Lakers have to finish out the year without Mark, but their rivals don't have him either, so they're in a better situation anyway.
The only reason Pelinka really had to NOT let the trade go through is reputational damage, so they leak to the media that Charlotte has failed a condition of the trade, which satisfies his fanbase and everyone will buy because the Hornets are the Hornets. I can totally see where our FO would be pissed in a situation like this. Reading Lakers fans responses to their team backing out of the trade has been really frustrating as a Hornets fan because there is this illogical argument of "why would we cancel the trade unless there are problems with Mark when we desperately need a center?" Well, because he served his purpose. You tarnished his value which hurts the Hornets while also keeping him from a rival, increasing your odds in a must win season. They were in a win-win situation to make the deal when they did with the ability to cancel out of it because who is more likely to be cast in the light of ineptitude, the Lakers or the Hornets?
I don't think the league will push the trade through, I don't think the league CAN push the trade through. The Hornets absolutely have had to challenge this, because otherwise maybe it doesn't actually get addressed at the next Governor's meeting. I expect this to be a battle of lawyers for a bit and that's good. Maybe it's petty, good. If the Hornets aren't in the wrong, this is the only thing they can do. Make a big stink by challenging this.
