NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the Charlotte Hornets have yet to file a protest on the rescinded Mark Williams trade after ESPN’s Shams Charania reported last week they were in contact with the league office about their options.
Silver made the revelation during his media availability for the 2025 NBA All-Star Weekend. Though the Hornets have yet to make a concrete action on contesting the Los Angeles Lakers‘ decision to rescind the trade, Silver said his office is looking at it as an opportunity to make a standard process to avoid such cases in the future.
“I think the larger issue reflecting your question in this day and age of sports science is that is there a different standard of sort we should be applying in terms of players passing physicals in trades? And it’s something we should look at as a league,” Silver told reporters. “I will say this issue does not come up that often.
“I can’t even remember being sort of certainly I don’t think in my tenure a trade has ever there’s been a challenge because a player has failed a physical but almost by definition you get into a certain level of subjectivity and where that standard is, but I think you know what, let’s see what Charlotte decides to do here?”
Rescinded Trade ‘Felt Like a Movie’
Williams has yet to play a game for the Hornets since the trade was rescinded.
On the other hand, Dalton Knecht, who was part of the return package to the Hornets, had already rejoined the Lakers but not after skipping a game to process the crazy few days he’s had.
“It felt like a movie,” Knecht told reporters after scoring 10 points in his first game back with the Lakers since the rescinded trade. “After that game [vs Clippers], came back the next day and went to go get some shots up in the gym. Twenty free throws in, I usually always shoot 25 right before I shoot, and Rob [Pelinka] called me up there and told me the news.
“It was hard, got drafted here and LA means a lot, so hearing that and then I went over to Charlotte in the morning with one of my guys and got introduced and met all those people.
“Flew out to Detroit to what was called my debut game, to now I’m flying back to LA, and Rob called me and said you’re coming back. I was excited to just go out there and hoop no matter where I was going.”
Rescinded Trade Has ‘Gotten Adam Silver’s Attention’
Silver acknowledged the disruptive nature of the sequence of events on the rescinded trade between the Hornets and the Lakers, which pushes him to look further into this regardless of the Hornets’ final decision.
“Either way it’s gotten our attention,” Silver added. “We understand that in the back and forth of teams in trades, to the extent we can reduce uncertainty — that’s a positive thing. Obviously, I mentioned before that for players who are involved in trades, how disruptive it can be.
“I’m sure it’s equally as disruptive to think you had been traded and not to be,” Silver told reporters. [It’s] disruptive for the player, disruptive for their teammates, so we’ll look at it. I mean I’d say that’s one of those areas when it comes to the health and well-being of our players. In medical science, there have been incredible developments, and this is a rule sort of as interpreted now hasn’t changed for many decades at the league office.”
