Imagine your place of work transferring you because they thought there was someone who could come in and help their branch of the company perform better. Now imagine having to return to that place of work a few days later after the organization decided the pull out of the swap. It would be awkward walking back into that building after living through that, right?
That is, more or less, the position Dalton Knecht is in, returning to the Los Angeles Lakers after the Mark Williams trade was rescinded. With the Charlotte Hornets failing to satisfy a condition of the trade, the deal between the two sides fell through. The Hornets have already proven how awkward the situation is on their end.
— Charlotte Hornets (@hornets) February 9, 2025
For the Lakers, things will not be much better as they try to figure out how to solve this new problem that is completely of their own making.
What happens now for Knecht and the Lakers?
It needs to be said that if the concerns around Williams' health were serious enough for Los Angeles to pull out of the deal then it was the right decision, despite the lackluster fallout that will come from that decision.
The Lakers will still need to address the center situation, on top of a handful of other focal points, in the offseason. Theoretically, that may still need to acquire their center of the future by using Knecht as a trade chip once more. The problem here is whether the Lakers rookie will still hold the same value at the point which Rob Pelinka and the Lakers front office restart negotiations with the league.
Los Angeles needs Knecht to be the best version of himself to uphold his trade value and pivot him into a foundational building block at the center position for the Luka Doncic timeline.
The best-case scenario would be their rookie returning to the building with a chip on his shoulder after nearly being dealt. This could result in an even better version of Knecht. At that point, once the 2025 offseason arrives, the Lakers are negotiating from a position of strength when searching for a center. Perhaps they even keep Knecht because of how well the sharpshooter performs next to Doncic.
However, the worst-case scenario is an unmotivated Knecht not wanting to bring his A-game for the franchise who nearly exiled him to basketball hell (Charlotte). If the former Tennessee product proceeds to play his way out of the rotation, the Lakers are now put in a losing situation.
The organization would then be forced to move on simply because of the distraction that could potentially be in the locker room. That distraction, once again, would be entirely created by their own volition.
Pelinka and Lakers fans will hope the future looks something closer to the best-case scenario. However, there are no guarantees that the Lakers did not just shoot themselves in the foot with their new, potential Knecht problem.