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Not every contributor is cut out to thrive with the Los Angeles Lakers.
The expectations surrounding the 17-time NBA champions will always be sky high, and some simply don’t possess the win-now skill sets necessary to thrive in that environment.
Second-year Los Angeles Lakers guard Dalton Knecht is one of them, as he’s struggled to find his way with the Lakers thus far. The Tennessee product attempted to accelerate his inevitable split with the franchise in late January by submitting a trade request. Nothing materialized, though, postponing a move that would do wonders for both parties.
Lakers insider Jovan Buha is hopeful that a deal can be completed in the near future and named the Brooklyn Nets, Washington Wizards, and Memphis Grizzlies as potential landing spots for the former first-round pick.
“In a macro-sense, I think there’s like a fit element here where Dalton needs to be on like a Brooklyn, a Washington, or a Memphis, or one of the teams where he could just play his game and figure out his skill set and have freedom to roam and figure things out,” Buha said Monday.
“That’s not the Lakers, that’s not the fish bowl of the Lakers team that’s trying to win a championship. His role has been to spot up and make threes, and he’s just not doing that at a high level.”
Knecht, who averaged 4.2 points per game while shooting 45.5% from the field and 34.2% from three with the Lakers, would be an ideal fit with all three of the franchises Buha listed. The Grizzlies and Nets would likely beat the Wizards for the top-2 spots, though, as their rosters are noticeably worse than the Wizards’, giving Knecht a more promising opportunity to develop into an impactful NBA player.
Playing for a Lakers franchise that wants to contend for championships every year has been detrimental to Knecht’s young career, which should lead to a beneficial deal.
Considering Los Angeles has already made Knecht available in trade talks this summer, and the franchise has been linked to 6-foot-9 Nets forward Zhaire Williams as a potential frontcourt-bolstering move, perhaps a Knecht-Williams swap could be in the cards this summer.
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