The Los Angeles Lakers appeared destined to trade Dalton Knecht entering the 2026 offseason. They attempted to do so during his rookie season in 2024-25, scarcely played him in 2025-26, and appeared to be trending in a direction that outgrew his skill set and limitations.
After the Lakers parted with LeBron James and replaced him with high-level role players, however, Knecht should receive an opportunity to prove he can thrive in a rotation that suits his game before trade negotiations truly take hold.
Knecht appeared to be trending toward a meaningful place in the Lakers' rotation before the team traded Anthony Davis for Luka Doncic. Davis publicly encouraged Knecht to shoot more when he was in games, and the then rookie responded with a number of explosive scoring performances.
Knecht produced two 30-point games and seven 20-point performances during his first year in the NBA, ultimately averaging 17.0 points per 36 minutes on .461/.376/.762 shooting.
Unfortunately, Doncic's arrival created a simple reality that Knecht couldn't escape: He no longer fit alongside the stars. While Davis was a renowned defender who patrolled the paint on offense, Doncic joined LeBron James and Austin Reaves as ball-dominant perimeter players who were known to have defensive inconsistencies.
With Knecht being an erratic defender himself, his minutes inevitably declined—and his offense suffered as his touches declined with them. In 2026, however, he's back in an ideal spot.
Lakers' roster structure finally suits Dalton Knecht again
In 2025-26, all three of Doncic, James, and Reaves posted usage rates of 25.8 or higher. That inevitably left a scarce few touches for other perimeter players, let alone a second-year wing who's still figuring out his place in the NBA.
With James out of the equation, however, Doncic and Reaves should feature heavily, but a small surplus of touches should become available to their teammates.
Knecht should thus have more opportunities to not only play off of playmakers in an off-ball role, but create for himself as a scorer. He should also find it easier to secure minutes when there aren't already two or even three players on the floor who are known to be erratic on defense.
It may sound like a cop-out—Knecht desperately needs to improve on defense himself if he wants to make his minutes last—but there is a light at the end of the tunnel with James no longer present.
Lakers lack proven scorers to support the stars
The obvious counterpoint is that Los Angeles signed a new cast of players to step into meaningful roles and they could thus render Knecht obsolete. The reality of the players acquired, however, is that they're almost all unproven in high-volume scoring roles.
The lone exception to that rule would be Collin Sexton—a 6'3" point guard who doesn't exactly resolve the need for generating offense from the wings.
Quentin Grimes was paid $60 million across four seasons, but he's exceeded Knecht's rookie-year average of 17.0 points per 36 minutes just once in five years. Sandro Mamukelashvili has exceeded it in each of the past two seasons, but he's also more of a stretch big than a true wing.
Cameron Carr and Adou Thiero have mountains of potential and may surpass Knecht rather quickly, but that's mere speculation and conjecture at this stage given their lack of NBA experience.
Lakers can justify trading Dalton Knecht—but not for just anyone
With this in mind, trading Knecht is by no means off the table, but it must transpire for a valid reason. For instance: Simply trading Knecht for a fringe rotational player who may or may not make the cut isn't worth it, nor would it be wise to move him for an end-of-the-rotation fit.
Instead, the Lakers should at least see how training camp plays out before they commit to moving Knecht in a trade for anything less than a player who will be guaranteed meaningful minutes.
Knecht isn't on an unfriendly contract or at the heart of reports that suggest he's hurting the locker room. Instead, he's a talented 25-year-old wing who has proven capable of scoring and shooting efficiently, and is making just $4,201,080 on a team that lacks offensive depth along the wings.
It may ultimately come to pass that Knecht's days are numbered in Los Angeles, but there should be no sense of urgency to trade him for anything less than a true rotational impact player before it's truly known how he fits with this new-look team.
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