Lakers waive Dalton Knecht, absorbing $4.2M owed this season
The Los Angeles Lakers waived Dalton Knecht on Monday to reach the 15-man roster limit for the regular season, ESPN's Shams Charania reported, and ClutchPoints' Brett Siegel confirmed the move. Waiving Knecht, the No. 17 pick in 2024, means the Lakers absorb the $4.2 million he is owed this season, according to headtopics.
The remaining years of his rookie-scale contract, any guarantees beyond this season and whether a signing by another team would offset any of that money were not reported.
The Lakers entered the day with 16 players on standard guaranteed contracts, headtopics reported, and the cut brings the roster to 15. The Japan Times reported that the move means Bronny James and Jaden Hardy make the opening-night roster.
The waiver followed a search for a trade. Jake Fischer reported last week that the Lakers held exploratory talks with the Bucks on a deal sending Knecht and second-round draft capital to Milwaukee for Jericho Sims, and Marc Stein reported that the team spent the weekend looking for a workable trade, without which it would have to waive Knecht or someone else.
The Lakers had tried to move Knecht for more than a year, including at the 2025-26 trade deadline and again in the summer, often packaged with Jarred Vanderbilt, according to headtopics. In February 2025 he was traded to Charlotte in a deal for Mark Williams, and the trade was rescinded after Williams failed his physical.
Knecht averaged 9.1 points and 2.8 rebounds in 78 games, 16 of them starts, as a rookie, then 4.2 points and 1.4 rebounds in 10.2 minutes across 54 games, with one start, last season, the Japan Times reported. This preseason he played four of the Lakers' five games and averaged 2.8 points on 3-for-12 shooting, 1-for-7 from three, according to Yahoo.
"The team changed. The needs changed, the fit changed," coach JJ Redick said last week. He added, "I think he got better as a player over the last two years," and said that "we added a lot of wings and he's in a tough spot right now."
The roster built around Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves now includes Walker Kessler, Quentin Grimes, Jake LaRavia and Matisse Thybulle, headtopics reported.
Per WAGE, Knecht's $4.0 million salary ranked 270th of the 435 rated players in 2025-26, while his production, a season total earned in 54 of the team's 82 games, ranked 357th, for a WAGE Score of 28, Under Water. In 2024-25 the same salary rank sat against a production rank of 182nd, so the gap between pay and output opened last season.
Knecht can sign with another team once he clears waivers, headtopics reported.