Lakers Have Major Decision to Make on Dalton Knecht

The Los Angeles Lakers' 50-win regular season run in 2024-25 ended in catastrophe during the first round, falling 4-1 in a troubling playoff series encounter with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Minnesota outplayed L.A. all across the board, capitalizing on the club's total lack of rim protection, an overreliance on a few key pieces, and its erratic perimeter defense.

Timberwolves All-Star shooting guard Anthony Edwards reminded the league that he's one of its bright young stars with a terrific performance, breaking down everyone off the drive and getting inside for easy buckets. His 3-point shooting left a lot to be desired. Three-time All-Star power forward Julius Randle began his best-ever playoff run by dominating the Lakers from all over the court. All-Defensive Teamers Jaden McDaniels and Rudy Gobert manhandled the Lakers.

And the club's best rookie, following an encouraging-if-fraught debut season, was nowhere to be seen.

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For the first 24 games of his season, 6-foot-6 former Tennessee All-American wing Dalton Knecht looked like an All-Rookie First Teamer. He started half of those contests, averaging 11.0 points on .469/.391/.773 shooting splits, 3.5 rebounds, 1.2 assists, and 0.5 steals a night, in 24.2 minutes per game, for a 13-11 squad.

JJ Redick then demoted Knecht back to a bench role on December 13, and his minutes slowly dwindled as his defensive problems became more glaring.

After L.A. traded to acquire five-time All-NBA First Team guard Luka Doncic, just three years older than Knecht at all of 26, Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka tried to trade Knecht and a 2031 first round pick away to the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for rim-rolling young center Mark Williams.

When L.A. rescinded the deal, Knecht returned to the team that didn't want him. Knecht wasn't a big part of the team's roster until injuries hit in March, when he saw a huge uptick in minutes for the month's first three weeks.

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Knecht was out of Redick's rotation in L.A.'s five-game playoff stint against the Minnesota Timberwolves, playing for all of 3:40 across just two of those contests.

For his rookie regular season season, Knecht averaged a respectable 9.1 points on .461/.376/.762 shooting splits, 2.8 rebounds and 0.8 assists in 78 contests. His defense seems to limit his upside, but his 37.6 percent 3-point shooting on 4.4 tries is at least encouraging.

But is the bloom off the rose? Has Knecht burned through his good will in Los Angeles?

After the trade, his minutes were slashed to 16.9 per contest, and Redick clearly didn't trust him enough to use him in the postseason. Maybe he'd be best suited on another developmental team, a la the Hornets, in the future.

The Lakers need to decide whether or not to retain Knecht, or if the relationship is beyond salvaging. Knecht should still have plenty of trade value for other teams. How much value he has on a win-now franchise like Los Angeles is an open question.

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