You've got to feel for former Tennessee Vols basketball star Dalton Knecht. It's been a memorable rookie season for him, but both in a good way and a bad one. A first-round pick by the Los Angeles Lakers, Knecht has impressed in 2024-25.
However, he made countless headlines when the Lakers traded him to Charlotte, only for the deal to fall through due to injury issues with big man Mark Williams. Knecht was ready to say goodbye to LA, only for the Lakers to end up keeping him after all.
Can you imagine going through this? It of course wasn't easy for Knecht, which he made quite clear in his first time speaking to the media after everything went down. If it seems like he was quite emotional in the clip below, it's because he was:
"It felt like a movie."
— Josh Ward (@Josh_Ward) February 13, 2025
Dalton Knecht described the last week after he was traded to the Hornets and sent back to the Lakers.
Knecht played 17 minutes and scored 10 points in his first game back with the Lakers last night. pic.twitter.com/FCtcsyPDFY
Dalton Knecht was emotional talking about the failed Lakers-Hornets trade
Again, you've got to feel bad for this kid. J.J. Redick didn't make things any better here. Earlier in the week, Knecht was spotted on the Lakers bench looking defeated. He was down in the dumps over how things played out.
Redick was asked about Knecht's body language. Instead of giving a reasonable response, he pretty much said he wasn't going to go into detail about what happened. He added that the Lakers spoke with Knecht and that everyone has moved on. Yeah right, man.
Lakers coach JJ Reddick on VFL Dalton Knecht’s “body language” following the rescinded trade to the Hornets.
— Tri-Star Network (@TennesseeNet) February 13, 2025
"We've talked about it, he's in a good spot. We're good"
pic.twitter.com/4JPJO234GZ
Knecht has given his all for the team this year and they thanked him by shipping him to Charlotte, only for things to be turned around at the last minute. Knecht is handling things with a ton of professionalism, but we wish we could say the same about the Lakers.
The trade deadline has officially passed, meaning Knecht will close out the campaign with the Western Conference side. However, you know he's going to be wondering about his future down the road after the team tried and failed to trade him. This is an unfortunate situation for the 2023-24 SEC Player of the Year.