{"id":147632,"date":"2025-06-28T18:53:53","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T22:53:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=147632"},"modified":"2025-06-28T18:53:53","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T22:53:53","slug":"lakers-trade-rumors-dalton-knecht-strong-candidate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/06\/28\/lakers-trade-rumors-dalton-knecht-strong-candidate\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharpshooting Lakers Wing Could be on the Move \u2014 Again"},"content":{"rendered":"

In <\/span>remarks to Spectrum Sportsnet<\/span><\/a> following the 2025 NBA Draft, Lakers President and General Manager Rob Pelinka addressed the team\u2019s lingering need for a center, vowing: \u201cWe won\u2019t rest until we get it right.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He and the Lakers have an opportunity to join an active offseason on the trade front. Rumors suggest that their former first-round pick could be out the door once more.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sharpshooting Lakers Wing Could be on the Move \u2014 Again<\/b><\/h2>\n

Report: Dalton Knecht Viewed as \u201cStrong Trade Candidate”<\/b><\/h3>\n

In a Saturday afternoon post on X, Forbes NBA writer Evan Sidery said that rising second-year <\/span>Dalton Knecht<\/span><\/a>\u00a0is not off the table in trade talks.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDalton Knecht remains a strong trade candidate for the Lakers, especially if they chase a premium center target,\u201d Sidery <\/span>wrote<\/span><\/a>. \u201cPackaging Knecht and matching salaries alongside draft capital is still an appealing offer for teams willing to sell on their starting-quality bigs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Apr
Apr 11, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Dalton Knecht (4) passes against Houston Rockets guard Nate Williams (19) during the second half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Hui-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 24-year-old forward\u2014part of the mixed <\/span>Mark Williams<\/span><\/a> trade in February\u2014had a decent rookie campaign despite the disruption at the deadline. In 78 games, Knecht averaged 9.1 points and 2.8 rebounds on 46% shooting from the field and 37% from three. Following the trade that never was, <\/span>he put up<\/span><\/a> 8.5 points and 2.3 rebounds on 45% shooting (41% from deep).<\/span><\/p>\n

The status of last year’s 17th pick only adds to the team’s frontcourt conundrum. Though <\/span>LeBron James<\/span><\/a> is reportedly <\/span>\u201cexpected\u201d to opt in<\/span><\/a> to his $53 million player option, <\/span>Dorian Finney-Smith<\/span><\/a> ($15.4M player option) <\/span>may be inclined to test free agency<\/span><\/a> for a multi-year commitment. Likewise, the <\/span>selection of Arkansas forward<\/span><\/a> Adou Thiero<\/span><\/a> could <\/span>signal the sunset<\/span><\/a> on <\/span>Jarred Vanderbilt<\/span><\/a>\u2019s time with the Lakers. Vanderbilt, another defensive-minded forward with a limited offensive repertoire, is making $11 million next season as part of a <\/span>four-year extension<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Centers the Lakers Could Still Chase<\/b><\/h3>\n

Knecht and the Lakers\u2019 2031 first-round pick are still considered among the team\u2019s <\/span>best assets<\/span><\/a>. Considering recent returns across the league, they\u2014along with one or more expiring contracts\u2014could still be enough for the Lakers to land one of their coveted targets.<\/span><\/p>\n

Walker Kessler<\/span><\/a> remains the Lakers\u2019 best bet\u2014if Utah is willing to budge from an enormously steep asking price (per ESPN\u2019s Dave McMenamin, it included multiple first-round picks). The team previously mulled over Hawks center <\/span>Onyeka Okongwu<\/span><\/a>, a former USC Trojan, at the deadline. The same goes for Portland\u2019s <\/span>Robert Williams III<\/span><\/a> and Brooklyn\u2019s <\/span>Nic Claxton<\/span><\/a>, who are both athletic two-way threats but come with notable limitations (Williams\u2019 injury history and Claxton\u2019s inconsistency).<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, the rumors hovering over LA seem to align with their <\/span>plan for the offseason<\/span><\/a>: to trade for a starting center and sign his backup in free agency. Doing so will require a significant shuffle in the rotation, but it\u2019s a risk the Lakers are willing to take to avoid another early postseason exit.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In remarks to Spectrum Sportsnet following the 2025 NBA Draft, Lakers President and General Manager Rob Pelinka addressed the team\u2019s lingering need for a center, vowing: \u201cWe won\u2019t rest until we get it right.\u201d He and the Lakers have an opportunity to join an active offseason on the trade front. Rumors suggest that their former […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":147635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,26,62,4721],"tags":[50155,49212,2272,2941,38,4581,2830,4613,4513],"class_list":["post-147632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-nba","category-trade-rumors","tag-adou-thiero","tag-dalton-knecht","tag-dorian-finney-smith","tag-jarred-vanderbilt","tag-lebron-james","tag-nic-claxton","tag-onyeka-okongwu","tag-robert-williams-iii","tag-walker-kessler"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147632"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147632\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":147644,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147632\/revisions\/147644"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}