The Los Angeles Lakers have opened the season strongly, sitting fourth in the Western Conference at 17-7. Still, the start has not been spotless. With LeBron James and Luka Doncic missing key games, the Lakers have shown stretches of uneven play. Those lapses have brought the spotlight on internal fixes as the front office looks ahead to the trade deadline.

“The Lakers will reportedly attempt to shop Dalton Knecht again this trade season in hopes of obtaining a rotational upgrade,” NBA insider Evan Sidery reported on X.

Well, it does make a lot of sense from the team’s perspective. After all, Kencht has been averaging fewer minutes this season than he did in his rookie year after being drafted alongside Bronny James.

This year, the 24-year-old forward is averaging just 15.1 minutes per game, which is significantly lower than the 19.2 minutes per game he averaged during his first year in the league. Not just that, the former Tennessee standout’s production has also taken a toll this season.

Despite the Lakers enjoying such a great start, he’s just averaging 6.4 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 0.6 assists while shooting 47.1 percent from the field. In fact, even his three-point shooting has fallen, which just further goes to show how bad he’s been thus far.

As expected, because of this steep fall in his performances, the Purple & Gold might consider bringing in someone much more experienced into their roster. More so, because LeBron James’ longtime friend and agent, Rich Paul, has already given the storied franchise an ultimatum, after going back and forth with the front office over the summer.

Rich Paul wants the Lakers to adopt a “championship mindset”

With rumors of the Los Angeles Lakers willing to trade Dalton Kencht swirling around the market, it’s hard not to think that it had something to do with what LeBron James’ agent, Rich Paul, said just a few days back. Even more so, considering the tension that emerged between the Purple & Gold and the future first ballot Hall of Famer over the summer.

“Pat Riley had a championship mindset,” Paul told Max Kellerman on the Game Over podcast. “So the foundation, right? It don’t matter how upset you may be. It don’t matter. We’re doing this thing this way… I would say if there was room to grow for the Lakers, it would be in that department. Yes, we are the Lakers, and let’s establish this culture.”

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“We’ve got 17 championships. Let’s establish this culture of being a championship organization and having these pillars. That don’t stop you from having great service and rolling out the carpet here and there and doing certain things that’s preferential. That’s fine. Everyone’s going to do that, by the way,” further emphasized.

The owner of the Klutch Sports agency pointed out that Pat Riley instilled the championship mentality in whichever franchise he went to. He suggested that’s something the Lakers are missing. He indicated that he wanted the Lakers to focus on winning championships, something that cannot be done with just one or two good players.

This isn’t the first time Paul has emphasized the Lakers building a solid roster around LeBron James and Luka Doncic, as he’s previously stated that the Lakers need to bring in solid rotational pieces. Although back then, it seemed that his words landed on no one’s ears, this time around, things might look a lot different.

More so because the Lakers have already built a solid core around James and Doncic. Now, they just maybe just need a couple more pieces before they can finally be considered real title contenders this season. Now, will those pieces come from trading Dalton Kencht or not? That’s something we will have to keep a close eye on in the coming weeks.