Dalton Knecht’s second season with the Lakers ended the same way much of it went: briefly. He logged eight total minutes across three losing games as Los Angeles was swept 4-0 by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round of the playoffs, then finished the postseason with just 10 minutes in the team’s 4-2 first-round win over the Houston Rockets.
The 25-year-old guard forward spent the season on the margins, averaging 4.2 points and 1.4 rebounds in 58 games while playing 10.2 minutes per game and making one start. His shot volume also fell sharply from 557 attempts in his first year to 191 in his second, a steep drop that fed the sense around the league that his role had shrunk along with his value.
That uncertainty has followed Knecht since his rookie season, when the Lakers agreed to send him to the Charlotte Hornets at the trade deadline before the deal was scrapped after Charlotte’s trade piece failed his physical in Los Angeles. Since then, his name has surfaced in trade chatter more than once, including during deadline speculation last season, even as he remained in the Lakers’ uniform.
Los Angeles has moved to build around Luka Doncic after the blockbuster trade that changed the direction of the roster, and that matters for every young piece trying to find a place in the rotation. JJ Redick is the Lakers’ head coach, and the team’s willingness to keep drilling into a tighter, Doncic-centered core leaves Knecht in a precarious spot as he enters his third year.
The tension is not hard to see. He has survived major stretches since the failed Charlotte deal, but there were also rumors that his lack of usage had hurt his standing. One league observer wrote that Knecht had somehow made it through plenty of post-trade upheaval without being moved despite constant speculation about his future in Los Angeles, and added that this offseason should finally be the one in which the 25-year-old gets a new uniform.
There is at least a real chance that comes to pass. The Lakers may not have Knecht in their plans, and another trade discussion could be waiting this summer as he heads into his third NBA season. The other question hovering over the roster is LeBron James and whether he returns for a record 24th season, but for Knecht the issue is narrower and more immediate: whether the next uniform he puts on is still purple and gold.
