At the time of his selection, many quickly praised the Los Angeles Lakers for ending the draft day slide of Dalton Knecht. In 2025, a year and some change removed from the 2024 NBA Draft, the pick is quickly aging poorly for Rob Pelinka and the front office.
After a promising start to his NBA career, Knecht is mostly out of the rotation in Los Angeles with the roster as close to full strength and a clean bill of health as it has been all year. Meanwhile, several players who were taken immediately after the second-year man are hitting their stride.
Tristan Da Silva is carving out a reliable role with the Orlando Magic. Ja’Kobe Walter brings a skill set to the Toronto Raptors every night that the Lakers would love to have right about now. The same can be said of Jaylon Tyson and what he is doing for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Those three were the 18th, 19th, and 20th picks that immediately followed Knecht in the 2024 NBA Draft. The hindsight in 2025 shows the Lakers may have walked out of there with the worst player of the bunch — and that stings.
Da Silva, Walter, and Tyson are making the Lakers’ pick look worse every day
Da Silva was off to a strong start in 2025-26 when the Magic were hit with a tough hurdle to clear. Paolo Banchero got injured. The choice of who would replace the star forward in the starting lineup was easy. Da Silva was immediately elevated to that group.
The Magic sophomore has emerged as an elite option to stretch the floor at the forward spot. Da Silva is doing it at a healthy volume to boot. For the Lakers, who are struggling to shoot the ball well in the early parts of the new season, that is a brutal miss.
Speaking of things that Los Angeles would love to have, would a strong point of attack defender not be great addition to this roster? They could have had that help if Walter was the pick they made in 2024.
The Raptors wing has been a relentless defender off the bench for Toronto. Walter utilizes his athleticism effectively to challenge his matchups, and it has resulted in him posting one of the highest defensive ratings on the team per 100 possessions.
The 19th overall pick from 2024 is also connecting on 42.9 percent of his triples. Granted, Walter is only taking 2.6 3-point attempts per game. Even so, much like Da Silva, his skill set would be a welcomed addition to the Lakers.
Tyson is also giving the Cavaliers a similar type of two-way boost. After a quiet rookie season, and a college career that involved a lot of on-ball responsibilities, the Cavaliers wing has adjusted to being the type of off-ball star in his role that every contender loves to have.
With all due respect to Knecht, each of these players are bringing much more to their teams than he is to the Lakers at this time. At present, it is a grim reality for a player who was once exciting the imaginations of all those in Los Angeles.
