The 2025 NBA Draft is less than a month away, and teams are prepping to add talent to their roster ahead of next season. Dallas and San Antonio jumped to the front of the line in landing No. 1 and 2, respectively, but there’s still a host of other talented players.
The Lakers aren’t one of those teams prepping, with their first round pick conveying to the Atlanta Hawks at No. 17. While a rookie may not be necessarily needle-moving for LA early, they’d still prefer to have a first round pick.
Below, we’ll outline a deal that could help both the Lakers and Rockets get better as early as next season:
In this deal, the Lakers deal soon-to-be second-year sharpshooter Dalton Knecht in exchange for the No. 10 pick at the upcoming draft.
The 24-year-old Knecht was solid for the Lakers in Year 1, averaging 9.1 points on 46% shooting overall, hitting 38% of his 4.4 triples attempted per game. His defense left some to be desired, and he had a streakiness to his overall game, but he still proved himself a rotational-level NBA player as a whole.
If the Rockets don’t feel great about their standing in the ’25 draft, they could opt out completely and pick up Knecht, who adds a much-needed offensive punch — especially from beyond the arc — to Houston’s defensive-minded core. While he’s on the older side, that could benefit the Rockets given they’ll be looking to contend as early as next year. Knecht, be it in tandem with All-Defense selectee Amen Thompson or fellow sharpshooter Reed Sheppard, could thrive in Rockets red.
While Knecht was impactful for LA, he was drafted without superstar Luka Doncic at the front of mind, and grabbing the No. 10 pick could allow the Lakers to do just that. The team is currently without a high-impact center for Doncic, far and away his No. 1 weapon seeing as he’s a pick-and-roll threat.
There should be a number of talented prospects there at No. 10, some who could be more potent weapons for Doncic than Knecht. There’s little chance Duke 7-footer Khaman Maluach falls there, but players like Georgetown’s Thomas Sorber, Georgia’s Asa Newell, a project in Ulm’s Noa Essengue, and plenty more certainly could be.
There’s risk involved for both teams, as LA could give up a fairly proven role player, but Houston gives up a top-10 pick in what’s considered a decent draft.
