Dalton Knecht had a rollercoaster of a rookie season as he started the 2024-25 season getting minutes off the bench before being traded to the Charlotte Hornets. After the Los Angeles Lakers rescinded the deal, Knecht returned but found himself buried on the bench.
Knecht dedicated his offseason to improving his game and the reports were that he was hard at work in the gym. With a year of NBA experience under his belt, Knecht was expected to dominate Summer League competition but struggled mightily.
It was disappointing to see a second-year player like Knecht regress on the court, but head coach JJ Redick believes his poor performance was due to overworking himself.
“Dalton is in a really good spot right now,” Redick said at his annual press conference before the season. “I’ve had a number of conversations with him throughout the summer and they’ve all been very positive. I really believe this: the guy did too much after the season and I think in summer league, he was burnt out. He was coming in here at 5 a.m. getting shots up, then doing two workouts with our Summer League staff and in the weight room.
“We had our last conditioning run of the preseason today, and he beat everybody by a long way. He’s in phenomenal shape, he’s in a great spot mentally and he’s played well throughout September.”
Not getting enough rest both physically and mentally can work against a young player like Knecht and would explain the dip in his numbers during Summer League. There were times it looked like he was pressing too hard on the floor as well, so there were multiple factors workin against Knecht.
Still young, Knecht has more development ahead of him and his poor Summer League showing apparently didn’t hurt his stock among NBA evaluators. However, it remains to be seen if he has much of a future in Los Angeles as the team will be aggressive looking for deals to bolster the roster.
Without many draft picks at their disposal, Knecht is one of the few assets the Lakers can offer in potential trades, so it’ll be interesting if the guard sticks around for the long term.
Dalton Knecht details offseason conversations with JJ Redick
Dalton Knecht was the first pick the Lakers made with JJ Redick as head coach and he made for the perfect protege given the similarities in their games. Knecht detailed his offseason conversations with Redick that ranged from getting to know each other to picking his brain about shooting.
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