Dalton Knecht scored 37 points against the Jazz as a rookie. Early that season, he looked like a steal at No. 17 and a possible long-term starter for the Lakers. Two years on, they have waived him. The cut came as the Lakers set their 15-man roster for the regular season. Bronny James, the Lakers’ other pick from that class, remains on the roster.
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“The Los Angeles Lakers are waiving former first-round pick Dalton Knecht,” sources told ClutchPoints.
ESPN’s Shams Charania reported the move Monday, and ClutchPoints’ Brett Siegel confirmed it. The Lakers entered the day with 16 players on standard guaranteed contracts. The cut brings the roster to 15 players. Knecht and Bronny had both been excused from practice that morning.
The Lakers tried to avoid this ending. Jake Fischer reported last week that they held exploratory trade talks with the Bucks on a deal sending Knecht and second-round draft capital to Milwaukee for big man Jericho Sims.
Marc Stein said the Lakers spent the weekend trying to find a workable trade, and that if there was none they would have to waive Knecht or someone else.
Nothing did. The Lakers had been trying to move Knecht for more than a year, including at last season’s deadline and again this summer, often packaged with Jarred Vanderbilt. They never found a deal. Waiving him means they absorb the $4.2 million he’s owed this season.
His trade value had been falling for a while. Last October, The Athletic’s Dan Woike reported that scouts who watched Knecht’s preseason were “as pessimistic as ever.”
One report last year quoted a scout calling Knecht a “negative asset” after a 1-of-12 preseason game, meaning a team would need to attach pieces to take him.
His fall was quick. Knecht started nine straight games in November 2024 and averaged 18.9 points and 4.9 rebounds over that stretch. Then, in February 2025, the Lakers traded him to Charlotte in a deal for Mark Williams. The trade was rescinded after Williams failed his physical, and Knecht’s minutes never recovered.
He played 553 minutes in 54 games last season, down from 1,494 in 78 as a rookie.
This preseason didn’t help. Knecht missed one of the Lakers’ five games with a contusion. In the other four, he scored 11 points in total, all of them in one game at Golden State, and he shot 1-of-7 from three.
“The team changed. The needs changed, the fit changed,” coach JJ Redick said last week. “I think he got better as a player over the last two years… So I just think coming into this year, we added a lot of wings and he’s in a tough spot right now.”
The 2024 draft was a defining moment for the Lakers. They used the 17th pick on Knecht and later took Bronny James with the 55th. Bronny is still on the roster and projected as part of the Lakers’ guard bench this season.
The first-round pick who was supposed to help the team win now is out, while the second-round pick who drew the most attention is still in.
The new roster reflects a team built to win around Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. The Lakers are trying to win now, and their rebuilt group includes Walker Kessler, Quentin Grimes, Jake LaRavia and Matisse Thybulle.
Knecht’s decline is a lesson in how fast a rookie highlight can fade, and Bronny’s place on the roster shows the Lakers still see value in him. Knecht can still sign elsewhere once he clears waivers, and his shooting remains his clearest selling point.
For the Lakers, the more important question is whether the players they kept are good enough to support Doncic.