Dalton Knecht fighting for rotation spot amid Lakers roster crunch

It’s no secret that the Lakers are facing a roster crunch ahead of the regular-season start in 2 ½ weeks. That doesn’t bode well for Dalton Knecht, who could find himself on the outside looking in.Knecht, the third-year wing the Lakers selected with the No.17 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, made a big splash as a rookie. He was in the rotation from the start of the 2024-25 season, stepping into the starting lineup in mid-November amid injuries — which produced the best stretch of his brief NBA career: Knecht averaged 18.9 points and 4.9 rebounds in the final nine games of November 2024 (nine starts). Even when he hit a shooting slump in January and December, Knecht was still getting consistent playing time as a part of the rotation. It looked like Knecht was going to come out of the slump after scoring 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting in the Lakers’ win over the Clippers on Feb.

4, 2025. But his career hasn’t been the same since. The Lakers included Knecht in the trade for Mark Williams that was rescinded, and Knecht’s playing time for the Lakers wasn’t the same after he returned to the team. That was still true during Knecht’s second season with the Lakers in 2025-26: He played 553 total minutes during the regular season across 54 games after recording 1,494 minutes in 78 regular-season games as a rookie. But with a significant roster reconstruction around star guards Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, there’s plenty of playing time to go around. “It’s a whole new opportunity for all of us,” Knecht said on media day this week.“Like [coach] JJ [Redick] said, there’s a lot of minutes open.”But it’s unlikely Knecht will soak up those minutes. Until Thursday, Knecht wasn’t mentioned — directly or indirectly — by Redick or president of basketball operations/general manager Rob Pelinka during any of their media availabilities.Other wing players such as free agent additions Quentin Grimes, Matisse Thybulle, Ziaire Williams, second-ye...