Former Tennessee Vols star Dalton Knecht may be on LeBron James’ bad side now and it’s not even his fault
Former Tennessee Vols star Dalton Knecht may be on LeBron James’ bad side now.
Former Tennessee Vols standout Dalton Knecht may be on LeBron James’ bad side now.
And it has nothing do to with anything Knecht did.
Knecht, who is in his second season with the Los Angeles Lakers, was recently sent to the G League after essentially falling out of the rotation in LA.
“When we first kind of talked about it as a staff, we ran it by RP [Rob Pelinka]. RP had communicated to Dalton and his agents early before we kind of made the final decision,” said Lakers head coach JJ Redick. “I just told him, he needs to play He’s gonna get opportunities on this team. He’s already had some opportunities, played well in some. He’s gonna help us at some point. Right now, he needs to play and he needs to have fun playing.”
The decision to send Knecht to the G League instead of Bronny James, LeBron’s oldest son, led to some interesting comments this week from former NBA All-Star-turned-podcaster Jeff Teague.
Jeff Teague questions why Dalton Knecht was sent to the G League instead of Bronny James
“I have a question,” said Teague. “This is no hate…why is [Knecht] in the G [League] and Bronny’s not in the G [League]?”
“I don’t care that [Knecht] is playing in the G League,” continued Teague. “I’m saying he was a first round pick. Now, if he wanted to go to G league because he want to get some reps, that’s different…but I’m just saying, he’s a first round pick. If you don’t like him, can y’all please move on from him? Like, give that man a chance.”
We know LeBron is protective, in his own way, of Bronny (and rightfully so, he’s a parent). But man, he might be looking at Knecht with a side eye whenever the G League tour is over for the former Vol.
But maybe that won’t be a bad thing for Knecht. As Teague said, the Lakers, at this point, just need to trade Knecht so he can actually get a chance to play.
(To be fair to the Lakers, they tried to trade Knecht last season, but the deal was famously rescinded.)
Knecht proved he can be an effective scorer in the NBA as a rookie last season (he had a couple of 30 point games). But his development has essentially been stunted at this point as he’s seemingly getting tossed into a different role with the Lakers every week.
Maybe Teague’s comments will piss off LeBron enough that he arranges for Knecht to finally be traded. That would certainly be the best outcome possible for the former Vol.
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