The Los Angeles Lakers have a clear problem in finding talent through the draft under Rob Pelinka, and his record looks worse after Dalton Knecht was waived ahead of his third NBA season. Pelinka has made three first-round picks since taking over as lead decision-maker in 2019. Jalen Hood-Schifino was traded midway through his second NBA season, and Cameron Carr was just taken in June. It is too early to judge one, and the other two have been disastrous.
Draft picks matter more than ever in the second apron era. Teams don’t want to exceed the second apron, which makes every dollar count. Having a contributor on a cheap rookie scale contract is the easiest way to get surplus value on a contending roster.
Knecht started strong in his first 19 games and quickly fizzled. Things got even worse after he was traded to Charlotte, only for the deal to be rescinded when Mark Williams failed his physical. Knecht has never been the same. He barely got opportunities and struggled when he did in his second season. Now, the Lakers have completely moved on and made Pelinka’s draft record look disastrous.
Rob Pelinka’s track record in the draft is abysmal
Pelinka has tried to build contending rosters throughout his tenure leading the Lakers. It has meant mortgaging the future for now. He traded for Luka Doncic and Anthony Davis, which cost several draft picks. The Lakers won the title in 2020, but things are different in this new CBA.
Pelinka has only made three first-round picks in eight years. That alone is a problem, but the picks amounting to three and a half seasons of minimal production make things even worse.
He did draft Max Christie, Bronny James, Adou Thiero, Talen Horton-Tucker, and Maxwell Lewis in the second round. Christie became a positive rotation piece before the Lakers traded him to the Mavericks in the Luka deal. The young wing wasn’t good enough to hold up the blockbuster. Bronny and Thiero still have time to become something, but one rotation piece in eight drafts is a problem.
The Lakers did sign Austin Reaves as an undrafted free agent in 2021. The future star convinced teams not to draft him to wind up in Los Angeles. This was a win for Pelinka, but it's hard to say how much credit he deserves for the hit.
The misses on JHS and Knecht were similar stories of Pelinka banking on offensive talent that never translated to the NBA.
Dalton Knecht had a clear flaw and minimal upside
Knecht was an elite scorer in college, but with a small track record. He only played his senior year at Tennessee. The year before, he dominated at Northern Colorado, which is a far cry from NBA-level competition. Knecht’s defense was below average in college, so he needed to be a lights-out scorer to survive at the next level.
This wasn’t the typical prospect. Knecht was 23 years old during his rookie season. There was less room to grow because he was four years older than the one-and-done crop. Basically, Knecht had to be NBA-ready from the jump, and he clearly wasn’t.
It blends Pelinka’s two biggest problems into one. He loves score-first players that don’t have the ancillary skills, and his front office has issues identifying talent in the draft. Knecht was a bucket in college, and it fooled Pelinka into thinking he could do it in the NBA. That was clearly not the case as his basketball IQ quickly became the biggest problem.
For those thinking there is still upside, the 25-year-old averaged 2.8 points on 25.0 percent shooting from the field in the preseason. This was in garbage time against mostly players who won’t be seeing NBA minutes this season. The ship has officially sailed. Head coach JJ Redick made that clear ahead of the preseason finale.
“I think the biggest thing is the team changed. The team changed. Needs changed, the fit changed. I think he’s gotten better as a player the last two years. I think, particularly last year, each guy got plenty of opportunities with the injuries we had. I just think coming into this year, we added a lot of wings and he’s in a tough spot right now.”
Lakers need to lean on expanded front office in the draft
The Lakers are expanding their front office, and they desperately need to overhaul their draft decision-making processes. Cameron Carr has potential, but he played in just two preseason games thanks to an injury. Pelinka has seven years of history before 2026 to show he has no business making another pick.
The Lakers need to find someone who has an eye for role players. They have Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves locked in at the top of their roster. LA needs complementary players that help turn the franchise into a title contender. Hood-Schifino and Knecht were score-first players. The purple and gold certainly don’t need that.
The Los Angeles Lakers don’t need to fire Rob Pelinka. He has landed two superstars in eight years on the job, but they need to let someone else control the draft room. Los Angeles must acquire talented players on rookie-scale contracts. Pelinka can’t find them, and cutting Dalton Knecht ahead of his third NBA season is just further proof of that. It is time for a change.
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