Jeff Schwartz via Shams: Los Angeles Lakers should not have failed Mark Williams on his physical

[JVFRMN]

Every report that came out has stated that the Lakers did not back out because of William's previous injuries but due to other issues. These would have been issues they were unaware of and discovered during their own testing. The Lakers and Hornets could also have differing perspectives based on long term outlooks. If the Hornets think Williams will be healthy over the next 2-3 years that doesn't really align with the Lakers goals who probably are interested in William's health outlook over the next 4-5 years (or beyond).

Also, I don't understand why the Laker's would back out of this trade based on public sentiment when public sentiment was evenly split on the Williams trade. The Lakers weren't getting destroyed in the media or by their fans over this trade. Even the sentiment on this board was split 50/50. I don't buy the backing out excuse at all, especially given the massive PR high the Lakers were riding on from the Luka trade.

The question is what other issues did he have that wasn't already known? Why not be more transparent if that's really the case? Based on Mark Williams recent about the fact he was surprised he failed his physical and and based on this report, I feel it's much more likely the Lakers failed Mark Williams physical because they knew they grossly overpaid to get him and had buyers remorse. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the Lakers GM order the medical staff to fail Mark Williams for stuff that has nothing to do with his physical and if that's the case, the NBA needs to hand out severe consequences against the Lakers.

I'm trying hard to believe you aren't aware of patient privacy / confidentiality concerns? A person going to any doctor's office has to sign forms even to allow them to discuss your condition with their colleagues for assisting in a diagnosis.

Being 'transparent' in terms of letting the general public know the condition is completely out of bounds. But don't let that lack of information stop you from then crafting wild unsubstantiated theories and then trying to pass them off as being factual.

You won´t find it so hard when you realize he's just a troll.

[druggas]

The question is what other issues did he have that wasn't already known? Why not be more transparent if that's really the case? Based on Mark Williams recent about the fact he was surprised he failed his physical and and based on this report, I feel it's much more likely the Lakers failed Mark Williams physical because they knew they grossly overpaid to get him and had buyers remorse. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the Lakers GM order the medical staff to fail Mark Williams for stuff that has nothing to do with his physical and if that's the case, the NBA needs to hand out severe consequences against the Lakers.

I'm trying hard to believe you aren't aware of patient privacy / confidentiality concerns? A person going to any doctor's office has to sign forms even to allow them to discuss your condition with their colleagues for assisting in a diagnosis.

Being 'transparent' in terms of letting the general public know the condition is completely out of bounds. But don't let that lack of information stop you from then crafting wild unsubstantiated theories and then trying to pass them off as being factual.

You won´t find it so hard when you realize he's just a troll.

Amen.

[azcatz11]

This is honestly only a story because it involves the Lakers. This stuff happens every year. Cam Whitmore was red flagged by multiple teams before dropping to Houston. As anyone knows who's been involved within the medical community - the doctor's don't know everything and there is always a grey area.

[Up-And-Coming]

Jeff Schwartz is Mark William's agent and has every financial incentive to downplay his potential physical concerns in hopes of getting paid as much as possible on his next contract.

[hugepatsfan]

This is honestly only a story because it involves the Lakers. This stuff happens every year. Cam Whitmore was red flagged by multiple teams before dropping to Houston. As anyone knows who's been involved within the medical community - the doctor's don't know everything and there is always a grey area.

Deals made on deadline day get rescinded days later because of failed physicals? No, that's not really true. It's pretty rare for any deal to actually get rescinded based on failed physicals, never mind the unique deadline day dynamics here.

It probably is a bit more of a story now because it resulted in a team with two top 10 players that thought they had a center now not having a center. There's big competitive implications to it. But it's also a unique and rare circumstance on its own.

[LordCovington33]

[x]

Read on Twitter

[/x]

anonymous doctors

[ConSarnit]

The question is what other issues did he have that wasn't already known? Why not be more transparent if that's really the case? Based on Mark Williams recent about the fact he was surprised he failed his physical and and based on this report, I feel it's much more likely the Lakers failed Mark Williams physical because they knew they grossly overpaid to get him and had buyers remorse. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the Lakers GM order the medical staff to fail Mark Williams for stuff that has nothing to do with his physical and if that's the case, the NBA needs to hand out severe consequences against the Lakers.

I'm trying hard to believe you aren't aware of patient privacy / confidentiality concerns? A person going to any doctor's office has to sign forms even to allow them to discuss your condition with their colleagues for assisting in a diagnosis.

Being 'transparent' in terms of letting the general public know the condition is completely out of bounds. But don't let that lack of information stop you from then crafting wild unsubstantiated theories and then trying to pass them off as being factual.

You won´t find it so hard when you realize he's just a troll.

Not sure why I engaged. Faco is the same poster who said AD had negative trade value a couple of years ago.

[The Laker Kid]

It's in the Lakers' best interest to complete this trade. It doesn't make sense for them to back out of the deal and force their fans to cheer for Alex Len.

[tamaraw08]

Yeah the NBA should step in and investigate this. Something tells the Lakers did something very shady and the GM Ordered the medical staff to fail Mark Williams physical to order to justify backing out of the trade

You really think the Medical Professionals who did all these tests/scans would risk losing their licenses to make up bogus results just because the Lakers asked them to?
From Radiology/MRI techs, Licensed Radiologists, Orthopedic Specialists, Sports Medicine team Doctors? really?

We know teams do shady stuff all the time and are simply hoping the NBA doesn't find out. The Lakers knew he had a injury history before they traded for him. I doubt anything actually showed up that wasn't already known to the public. Teams can fail a player physical based on they deemed to be necessary. The only way you can fail a player physical is they have additional serious medical issues that wasn't already known before. I don't see any evidence that leads us to that. I believe the Lakers simply had cold feet and wanted to save their remaining picks,so they made a excuse to back out of a agreed upon deal.

The Lakers franchise has been in the league for 77 seasons and have made countless trades ever since and how many times have this team backed out and rescinded from those transactions?
It's not just them because there will be a repercussion if teams do it unless there are legitimate reasons.
Shams Charania reported that Charlotte were planning the protest but Silvers said there was no protest, which reveals they have the right to do so but didn't follow through, why?
They could have EASILY showed Scan results that can prove he is completely healthy but did not.
League can actually hire independent Physicians to actually determine the TRUTH but again Charlotte DECIDED not to protest.
Mark Williams is so young and good when he plays. The 7-0 freakish long guy is just 23 years old and if he plays at least 60 games in the next 7-8 years or so, then that 2031 pick would be so low and meaningless but here's the problem.
Mark has only played less than 38% of the games his first 2 years
AND 29 games of the possible 53 games this season.

[Dominator83]

He's out tonight for "injury management".

The Bobcats sure aren't trying very hard to convince anyone he's fine lol

[doogie_hauser]

I can only hope Mark Williams finally stays healthy and becomes a decent player for The Hornets

[Fadeaway_Jumper]

I think the failed physical thing was a last minute excuse that the league let our team get away with.

When you have chronically injured guys like Bradley Beal, Ben Simmons and friggen Kawhi Leonard somehow pass a physical and get traded, there’s no way Williams who just played significant minutes last night, not get through

[CIN-C-STAR]

Yeah the NBA should step in and investigate this. Something tells the Lakers did something very shady and the GM Ordered the medical staff to fail Mark Williams physical to order to justify backing out of the trade

You really think the Medical Professionals who did all these tests/scans would risk losing their licenses to make up bogus results just because the Lakers asked them to?
From Radiology/MRI techs, Licensed Radiologists, Orthopedic Specialists, Sports Medicine team Doctors? really?

They wouldn’t need to make up any results though.
Just say they have “significant” concerns rather than “moderate” concerns and that’s enough.
Those are subjective distinctions so it really wouldn’t risk anything for them much less losing their license

[JDR720]

He's out tonight for "injury management".

The Bobcats sure aren't trying very hard to convince anyone he's fine lol

He's not been playing back to back games this whole season.

[Dr Aki]

Agent sticks up for his client

More news at 11

[Pointgod]

Not sure what to do with this information. Why? What did the other doctors see? What did the Lakers see?

There is literally no information, I'm not sure what we are to gather from Shams here

Literally the only opinion that matters is the Lakers doctors and Lakers organization because they’re taking on all of the risk. Having Swartz weigh in is kind of irrelevant.

[og15]

I think the failed physical thing was a last minute excuse that the league let our team get away with.

When you have chronically injured guys like Bradley Beal, Ben Simmons and friggen Kawhi Leonard somehow pass a physical and get traded, there’s no way Williams who just played significant minutes last night, not get through

Physicals are about the risk a team is willing to take and about possible long term issues. Some guys are injury prone but with no specific possible long term issue.

Also the teams know those players history and are trading them with that in mind, so it's about if you find anything you DIDN'T already know about, because now you have access to all medical records as well as to the player. Then after that it is about the risk you're willing to take. Teams obviously are more willing to take a risk on star level guys with injury concerns depending on the situation.

[Dominator83]

He's out tonight for "injury management".

The Bobcats sure aren't trying very hard to convince anyone he's fine lol

He's not been playing back to back games this whole season.

For an injury that was how long ago??

If i were them, i would be playing him every game, 30 mins a game, to prove my point that hes fully healthy and the Lakers were full of it.

Unless, hes not very healthy and the Hornets knew they were trying to sell damaged goods

[Dominator83]

I mean this isn't controversial.

He's a very talented player who has been riddled by injuries his entire career so far and they determined in the long-term he's a huge liability.

He missed 60 games last year and has already missed half of this season.

The Lakers probably determined he likely would be riddled by injuries for the rest of his career based on what they found out.

The issue here is that they already knew he had a injury history. Shouldn't have made the trade to begin with if they were so concerned. You can't just agreed to do a trade on principle, only to back out after you realised you overpayed. It's quite the Lakers failed Mark Williams physicals on purpose in order to justify backing out of the trade.The NBA needs to investigate this and make a example out of them in order to make it loud and clear to the other 29 teams in the NBA that you can't just back out of trade after you already agreed to do the deal to begin with.

The Grizzlies backed out of an agreed to trade, claiming they were confused as to which Brooks they were trading

Which was proven BS considering that prior to everyone agreeing, medical records were exchanged. The Grizzlies forked over the requested medicals for DILLON Brooks. after the trade they claimed they thought it was Marshon Brooks and backed out.

They weren't even made an example out of and that was straight up shady, especially over Dillon effing Brooks whos JAG anyway.

[Tha Cynic]

They wouldn't fail him without reason. He is damaged goods most likely.

Unless they had buyer’s remorse lol. They basically gave up all their assets for him.