The Los Angeles Lakers were among the more unlucky franchises last week.
In addition to discovering that LeBron James would miss the start of the 2025-26 season due to injury, the organization also received disappointing trade news regarding 6-foot-6 second-year guard Dalton Knecht.
“Scouts and executives, almost unanimously, felt that the Lakers wouldn’t be able to recoup comparable value to the No. 17 pick they used when they selected Knecht," The Athletic's Dan Woike wrote last Wednesday.
"Some felt the team might be able to get its hands on multiple second-round picks, while the most critical felt Knecht would return just a lone second."
“But after a rough preseason debut where he shot 1 of 12, scouts left Palm Desert as pessimistic as ever, one even calling Knecht a 'negative asset', meaning the Lakers would need to attach pieces to incentivize a team in a trade."
Dalton Knecht’s NBA career is off to a rocky start, to put it mildly.
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The Tennessee product’s age (23, at the time) and mature skill set made him the biggest steal of the 2024 NBA draft in most individuals’ eyes.
Knecht, who averaged 9.1 points on 46.1% field goal shooting and 37.6% three-point shooting last year, produced several ‘wow’ moments as a rookie, but wasn’t viewed as a piece the Lakers had to develop to achieve greatness.
Los Angeles was prepared to part ways with the 6-foot-6 guard in favor of Charlotte Hornets center Mark Williams before the reported midseason deal (Knecht, Cam Reddish, a future first-round pick, and a pick swap to the Hornets for Williams) fell through.
This past July, Knecht was given the chance to help the Lakers shop him around the league, but he failed miserably during the NBA 2K26 Summer League (he didn’t shoot the ball well and gave minimal effort defensively).
Knecht hasn’t played particularly well during the preseason, either, making it even more challenging for the Lakers to trade him if they identify an asset worth acquiring.
The worse a player performs, the harder it is to entice other franchises to take a chance on them, which is what the Lakers are experiencing in mid-October.
Perhaps Knecht will increase his trade value in the foreseeable future.
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