Dalton Knecht Reacts To Lakers-Hornets Trade Falling Through

Through the first half of the season, Dalton Knecht looked like one of the steals of the 2024 Draft, as the 17th overall pick was averaging 9.4 points per game in 48 appearances prior to the trade deadline. A solid rookie campaign (especially from this Draft class) didn’t figure to be something that would get him traded, but with Luka Doncic’s arrival and Anthony Davis’ departure, the Lakers were suddenly scrambling to find a center.

They opted to trade Knecht and their 2031 first round pick to Charlotte for Mark Williams, who was reportedly “handpicked” by Doncic as his preferred trade target. However, a few days later, after being introduced in Charlotte, Knecht found himself returning to the Lakers in one of the most awkward situations in pro sports, as Williams got failed by Lakers doctors in his physical and the trade was rescinded.

Wednesday in Utah was the first game Knecht played back in L.A., as the Lakers had their hot streak snapped by the Jazz in a rather stunning lopsided loss. After the game, Knecht met with reporters and detailed his “crazy” week, but also noted that he “just wanted to hoop.”

“Yeah, it was a crazy time. Not too many people done that and come back, but at the end of the day I just wanted to hoop,” Knecht said. “I told that to JJ and Rob when I got back is, that was the main thing, I want to go hoop, I want to play. I got in late and at the end of the day they said Wednesday was my return so I was excited to come back here and play with my guys.

“It felt like a movie,” Knecht said of the last week. “After that game, came back the next day, went to get some shots up in the gym. 20 free throws in, I usually shoot 25 right before I shoot, and Rob called me up there and told me the news. It was hard, I got drafted here so L.A. means a lot to me, so hearing that then going to Charlotte in the morning with one of my guys. Then get introduced, start meeting all those people. Fly out to Detroit for what was called my debut game, to then now I’m flying back to L.A. Rob called me and said you’re coming back and I was just excited to go out there and hoop wherever I was going. … I get it’s a business, so at the end of the day, I told ‘em let’s just go play basketball.”

Knecht is certainly saying all the right things and there’s not really much else for him to say. He’s a rookie so he’s not going go scorched earth on the Lakers or anything, and beyond that I tend to believe him when he says he just wants to play ball. There’s also the fact that he was getting shipped to a Hornets team at the bottom of the East and now returns to a hopeful contender in L.A., which he can look at as a silver-lining to the whole thing. Still, there will be work to do on the Lakers front to repair relationships not just with Knecht but his agents, who probably are more upset than he is about the entire situation. On top of that, Knecht is probably very aware that a similar package including him will be on the table again this summer to address the center issue that has still not been resolved long-term, so I doubt he’s going to be quite as fully invested in trying to put roots down in L.A. unless he manages to stay on the roster through the 2026 deadline.