The Los Angeles Lakers believed they had acquired their center of the future in dealing away Dalton Knecht, Cam Reddish and draft picks to the Charlotte Hornets for Mark Williams. However, after a failed physical revealed issues the Lakers weren’t willing to overlook, the trade was ultimately rescinded, meaning Knecht and Reddish would remain with the team.
This could make for an awkward situation as returning to a team that traded you away is a bit weird. Knecht is already back in purple and gold, suiting up and contributing 10 points off the bench in the Lakers’ loss to the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night, but Reddish has been conspicuously absent due to personal reasons. He was away from the team before the trade went down and has not yet returned.
This is for a good reason, however, as head coach JJ Redick revealed that Reddish is with his family after welcoming a daughter into the world.
“Cam is still with his family, he welcomed his baby daughter last week,” Redick said prior to the Lakers’ victory on Monday night over the Jazz. “Obviously want to give him time with his family.”
With the All-Star break approaching and the awkwardness of the situation as a whole, it makes complete sense for the Lakers to allow Reddish to remain with his family at this time. Bringing in a child is very special and staying with family is important in these moments.
The Lakers were already getting some time off with All-Star Weekend so it isn’t a big deal for Reddish to be away, especially considering that the team had just traded him away. Perhaps spending some time with his family and newborn will allow for Reddish to reset mentally upon this rare situation in which he must return to the Lakers thanks to Williams’ failed physical ruining the deal.
Following the All-Star break, Reddish will be able to get some practice time and re-acclimate himself with the Lakers, hopefully making an awkward situation more manageable for everyone.
Dalton Knecht discusses ‘crazy’ week and return to Lakers following failed trade
While Cam Reddish remained with his family, the other player involved in that trade has already returned to the Lakers as Dalton Knecht was in uniform Wednesday night after a wild week.
Knecht outlined all he went through, from learning about the trade and flying to Charlotte, to preparing for what he thought would be his debut game with his new team and finding out he was headed back to L.A. Knecht ultimately just wants to be able to play basketball and made that clear to JJ Redick and the rest of the Lakers upon his return.
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