Just as the trade deadline was coming to a close, in the span of a week Dalton Knecht went from playing for the Lakers, joining the Hornets, and finally returning to Los Angeles after the deal that took him to Charlotte has rescinded. This past Wednesday, the rookie was seen wearing purple and gold again.
Despite the Lakers 131-119 loss against the Jazz this week, Dalton was certainly happy to be back with his old teammates. The 23-year-old attended the press and reflected on the dramatic circumstances that took him on a place around the country, only to find himself back in the city he’s called home since last year.
Knecht revealed he still felt in shock, but can’t wait to carry on with the season and prove himself once again on the court. “It was a crazy time,” he said after dropping 10 points in 17 minutes against Utah. “It felt like a movie.”
As the player recalls it, back on February 5 he was practicing his normal routine before his shooting drills before he was interrupted. Rob Pelinka had called him into his office to inform him that he was traded along with Cam Reddish, a 2030 pick swap and the Lakers’ 2031 first-round pick, to Charlotte’s Mark Williams.
“It was hard,” Knecht said, as he had to fly from Los Angeles to North Carolina, then from there to Detroit as part of his first game with the Hornets, and suddenly back to California. “I got drafted here, so L.A. means a lot.”
He recalled when he landed in Michigan last Saturday, when he heard of Pelinka again to announce the trade was off. “Rob called me and said, ‘You’re coming back,'” Dalton shared. “I was just excited to go out there and hoop, no matter where I was going.”
By Monday morning, Knecht flew back to meet with the Lakers general manager. “I just want to go hoop. I told that to JJ and Rob,” the rookie insisted. “I get it’s a business, so at the end of the day, I told them, ‘Let’s just go play basketball.'”
