Dalton Knecht is the Lakers’ most likely cut, and I think waiving him would be the wrong way to do it. The Lakers have a 25-year-old who was the 17th pick two years ago and made 37.6% of his threes on 4.4 attempts a game as a rookie. If a team will give anything for that, the Lakers should take it.
My take: the Lakers should try to trade Knecht before Wednesday’s opener against Golden State, and the preseason is a poor reason to skip it. Forty-eight minutes of mostly bench time did not change what he was last year. If nobody bites, waive him and move on.
Where the decision stands
The Lakers have to trim to 15, and Knecht is widely viewed as the player most likely to go, per The Sporting News on Sunday. ESPN’s Dave McMenamin posted that the Lakers waived Rafael Castro and Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones on Saturday, and Knecht was not one of them. The Sporting News also reads the Lakers’ latest moves as a sign they are still exploring a trade.
JJ Redick explained it, per a post from Daniel Starkand. “The team changed. Needs changed, the fit changed,” he said, and added that the Lakers “added a lot of wings” and that “he’s in a tough spot right now.” He also said Knecht has gotten better as a player over the last two years, and that last season each player got opportunities because of the injuries the team had.
Redick says Knecht got chances last year, and he says Knecht is better now. The roster, not the player, moved.
What the numbers say
Here are the last two seasons, from Basketball Reference:
| Season | Games | Starts | Min/G | Pts/G | 3P | Pts per 36 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 78 | 16 | 19.2 | 9.1 | 128-of-340 (37.6%) | 17.0 |
| 2025-26 | 54 | 1 | 10.2 | 4.2 | 38-of-111 (34.2%) | 14.8 |
The points per 36 are my math from his totals: 706 points in 1,494 minutes as a rookie and 228 in 553 minutes last season. His field-goal percentage barely moved (46.1% to 45.5%). The three-point number fell by about three points, and his attempts dropped from 4.4 to 2.1 a game. Last year he played about half the minutes.
That is a player who got worse at one thing and lost his minutes. A 34.2% three-point shooter on 111 attempts is an ordinary wing, and I would not call him more than that. It is still a long way from a bust.
The preseason adds little
Knecht played in four of the five preseason games:
| Date | Opponent | Min | Pts | FG | 3P | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct. 5 | at Sacramento | 12 | 0 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 1 |
| Oct. 6 | at Golden State | 22 | 11 | 3-8 | 1-4 | 3 |
| Oct. 13 | Golden State | 6 | 0 | 0-2 | 0-2 | 2 |
| Oct. 16 | Denver | 8 | 0 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Total | 48 | 11 | 3-12 | 1-7 | 6 |
He did not play on Oct. 8 against Sacramento, per the ESPN box scores. Those are 48 minutes, 11 points, 3-of-12 shooting and six turnovers, which is bad. The only game where he got real run (22 minutes at Golden State on Oct. 6) was a 124-98 loss in which the Lakers played without Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Walker Kessler and Collin Sexton.
Two games of six minutes and eight minutes tell me where he sits in the order. They do not tell me what a team with a spot for him would get.
Why the roster has no room
The Lakers’ perimeter rotation candidates include Jake LaRavia, Adou Thiero, Matisse Thybulle, Ziaire Williams and Quentin Grimes. I wrote about Thybulle as the wing stopper and about LaRavia’s three-point shot. Williams scored 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting in 11 minutes in the Oct. 16 finale against Denver, per ESPN, while Knecht played eight minutes and missed his only shot.
That is also why I keep Bronny James as the 15th man. Redick has said one of Bronny, Jaden Hardy or Chris Manon plays when Doncic or Sexton is out, because the team needs another ballhandler, and Knecht is not on that list.
The case against me
The best argument for waiving him is that if no team offers anything, a trade is just a delay. That is true, and it costs the Lakers a few days of phone calls. The cost of skipping it is a player who made 128 threes as a rookie leaving for nothing.
The other argument is that he has not earned a return. His 2025-26 line (4.2 points in 10.2 minutes, 34.2% from three) is not one that gets a general manager excited, and the preseason did not help. Waiving him returns nothing.
If nobody wants a 25-year-old first-round pick on a $4.2 million salary, the Lakers have their answer and can waive him. If someone does, they should take the call.
What a trade is worth
Basketball Reference lists Knecht’s salary at $4,201,080 in 2026-27 and $6,452,860 in 2027-28, with the 2027-28 year a team option. The Sporting News quotes Trevor Lane saying the Lakers would not pick up that $6.4 million option if they had to decide now, and that Knecht has until Halloween to change that. Whoever trades for him inherits the same decision, and a team that thinks a bigger role brings the three-point numbers back gets a look at him first.
Waiving him gets the Lakers nothing back. I would take a second-round pick for him, and I would not pretend it is a big return. It is just better than zero.
The clock is short. The Lakers have to be down to 15 before the opener on Wednesday, so a trade has to come together soon or the waiver is the fallback.
What I would watch
- A trade before the opener. If one comes, I want a pick back.
- Who goes if there is no trade. Knecht is the likeliest, per The Sporting News, and I agree. If Bronny James or Jaden Hardy goes instead, I would ask what Redick is seeing that the box scores are not.
- Where Knecht lands. If he gets 20 minutes somewhere and shoots 37%, the Lakers gave up a cheap scorer.
Trade him, take the second-rounder, and let the wing minutes go to the players Redick already trusts.