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Dalton Knecht was hoping the Los Angeles Lakers would put him out of his misery before the Feb. 5 deadline and trade him to a franchise that would give him the freedom to make mistakes and blossom into a solid player.
Per Offside’s Anthony Irwin, the Tennessee product approached the Lakers’ front office on Jan 28 and requested to be traded after quickly falling out of JJ Redick’s rotation. Unfortunately for Knecht, there wasn’t an organization willing to welcome the former first-round pick with open arms, which explains why he’s still on the roster.
With the Lakers aggressively pursuing an offseason sign-and-trade for Jonathan Kuminga, though, Knecht received renewed optimism that Los Angeles would finally set him free. That said, a recent report regarding the Lakers’ potential sign-and-trade package for Kuminga is brutal news for the second-year guard.
"I want to give a big shout-out to a friend of the show, Khobi Price, who had a huge report today updating the Kuminga situation," Lakers insider Jovan Buha stated Wednesday. "He reported that Atlanta is open to trading Jonathan Kuminga to the Lakers in a sign-and-trade with the framework being Jarred Vanderbilt and the Lakers' 2032 first-round swap."
"Now, I have heard the Lakers are reluctant to give up that swap and are reluctant to give up that swap in that specific deal.”
With the Lakers reportedly building a package centered on Vanderbilt rather than Knecht, it appears likely the 25-year-old will remain stuck in a dead-end situation in Los Angeles. Knecht is on a tremendously short leash on Redick’s title-seeking Western Conference squad, and it doesn’t help that the organization just drafted a player who’s well-positioned to outduel him for minutes in 2026-27 (Cameron Carr).
At the end of the day, Knecht, who must improve his on-ball defense and add more to his offensive arsenal to last in the big leagues, is undoubtedly better off developing his game elsewhere.
Nightmarishly, Knecht doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. It doesn’t seem to be an option again, which, in all likelihood, will prove to be detrimental to his long-term NBA future.
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