The Los Angeles Lakers announced they assigned Dalton Knecht and Adou Thiero to the South Bay Lakers. South Bay will play against the San Diego Clippers on Tuesday night.
This is Knecht’s first time being assigned to South Bay, while Thiero has been shuffling back and forth on the parent team.
Knecht’s mostly ridden the bench during the 2025-26 season as head coach JJ Redick has opted to go with his more veteran options. Despite Knecht’s ability to shoot it from beyond the arc, he’s fallen out of the rotation largely due to his inconsistent defense.
The forward’s struggles date back to the summer where he and Redick both acknowledged he may have burnt himself out training too hard. Knecht couldn’t score in Summer League despite the dip in competition level and the volume of shots he got, raising some alarms regarding his development.
An assignment to the G League normally is a means to get a player practice or game reps, and with Knecht out of the rotation it makes sense to send him to South Bay. While Austin Reaves will miss at least a week due to a calf strain, the Lakers parent team has been getting healthier which takes away any minutes from players like Knecht.
As a former first-round pick, Knecht seemed poised to become a regular in the rotation but so far it hasn’t panned out. The Lakers have oddly struggled when it comes to hitting on highly-regarded prospects, but excel with players who are either drafted in the second round or signed in undrafted free agency.
For an organization that’s looking to develop young talent for the long-term, Knecht would be a huge miss if he isn’t able to show signs of improvement the rest of the season. To make matters more complicated is that he is considered a much older prospect, so his trade value also isn’t as high as players with his caliber.
Hopefully Knecht is able to rebuild his confidence and rhythm with South Bay because the Lakers could definitely use a player with his skillset. Outside shooting and scoring remains a premium skill in today’s NBA, so Knecht’s development progress is worth tracking.
JJ Redick maintains very high belief in Dalton Knecht
JJ Redick has always had Dalton Knecht’s back, often times coming to the young forward’s defense. While Redick hasn’t shown a willingness to play Knecht this season, he still maintains a very high belief in him.
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