Dalton Knecht is back with the Los Angeles Lakers after they rescinded the Mark Williams trade with the Charlotte Hornets but he doesn’t seem too happy about it. Knecht did not play for the Lakers against the Utah Jazz at Crypto.com Arena on Monday and looked quite miserable on the bench.
Dalton Knecht looks PISSED 😭 pic.twitter.com/Nujp7jZ78A
— BricksCenter (@BricksCenter) February 11, 2025
Knecht also awkwardly stood alone on the sidelines during a timeout.
Dalton Knecht looks like he’s waiting to be put on a flight back to Charlotte 😭 pic.twitter.com/QY0prjcQAC
— Ethan Price (@Paradox_EP) February 11, 2025
You can understand if Knecht is just a bit annoyed with the Lakers at the moment. It wouldn’t have felt great when they shipped him off to the Hornets as he realized they consider him to be expendable.
It’s natural to be upset but the NBA is a business at the end of the day and Knecht will have to put his feelings aside and move on. If Luka Doncic can be traded, well, anyone can.
Knecht now needs to show the Lakers, who beat the Jazz 132-113 on the night, that they dodged a bullet in more ways than one when they decided to rescind that Williams trade over a failed physical. The way to do that would be by being professional and balling out on the court.
Knecht, the 17th pick of the 2024 NBA Draft, got off to a red-hot start with the Lakers but then hit the rookie wall. The 23-year-old averaged 11.9 points on 42.9% shooting from beyond the arc in the first 20 games of his NBA career.
It looked like the Lakers had found the sniper that they needed in Knecht, but his shot deserted him after that. He averaged just 6.7 points on 19.1% shooting from three in his next 20 games and saw his minutes drop as a result.
That decline in production might have been what made Knecht expendable, but he was showing some signs of life recently. He averaged 10.1 points on 45.7% shooting from three in his last eight games and if he can keep hitting at that clip from beyond the arc the rest of the way, the Lakers could well end up deciding to keep hold of him in the summer.
JJ Redick Explained Why He Didn’t Want Dalton Knecht To Play Against The Jazz
Lakers head coach JJ Redick had stated before the game against the Jazz that Knecht was unlikely to feature in the contest. It wasn’t the rookie’s decision, though, and Redick explained why he took that step.
“With Dalton, I spoke with him this morning. I think I expressed to him just the empathy, grace that I would give him and have for him right now. He’s obviously been through a whirlwind of emotions as a rookie over the last few days. But we believe in the strength of the group and having him around the group today.”
“He’s not necessarily gonna be in the rotation today, he will be in uniform. But I really feel like, he flew back into L.A. last night, he’s obviously kind of processing everything that’s happened. He’ll play Wednesday but he’ll be out of the rotation tonight unless something happens.”
That might well have been the right decision. Redick wanted to give Knecht a little bit more time to process the crazy events and will be putting him back in the rotation when the 32-19 Lakers take on the 12-40 Jazz at the Delta Center on Wednesday at 9 PM ET.
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