Dalton Knecht has little trade value across the NBA. The Los Angeles Lakers still want to improve their roster through trades this offseason. That leaves them trying to move players who do not draw much interest and, if needed, attach extra assets to make deals work.
Dan Woike On Knecht
Dan Woike of The Athletic said there is not a real clamoring from teams around the NBA to go and get any of the Lakers' current players. He added, "When I talk to people around the NBA about the current players on the Lakers’ roster, there just isn’t a real clamoring from teams to go and get one of them. They all have real flaws that might knock them out of a team’s plans. Maybe — and it’s a maybe — there’s a team desperate for shooting that would try and look at Knecht, but I don’t think there’s a big market for him."
That leaves Knecht in a tricky place. He is still a possible shooting target for a desperate team, but the market around him looks thin enough that the Lakers cannot count on him carrying value in a larger trade.
Jarred Vanderbilt’s Contract Weight
Jarred Vanderbilt sits in the same bucket, and his $13.3 million player option for the 2027-28 season appears to be a lock to be picked up. In a vacuum, a team would be paying capital to take on that contract, not receiving extra value for it.
Vanderbilt still brings some value as a high-energy, defensive wing, but his contract and his lack of a consistent jumper push teams away. Knecht’s value has also fallen after a strong start to his career, even though he showed in a handful of games this year that he can still score at a high level. His shortcomings in the rest of his game have kept him from locking down a consistent rotation spot.
Lakers Trade Math
The practical problem is simple: the Lakers do not have much to offer in players that other teams want. To get back an established player on a good contract, they would have to meet the asking price and cover the cost of getting off the players they send out. That is where the extra salary cap space and draft picks matter, because those are the pieces they can use to make a deal work.
Marcus Smart looks more likely to return to the Lakers than Deandre Ayton, which adds another layer to the offseason picture. For now, the hard part is not naming trade targets. It is finding a market that will take Knecht or Vanderbilt without forcing the Lakers to pay extra just to clear the path.
