Dalton Knecht & Jericho Sims Swap Discussed With Bucks

The Los Angeles Lakers still have some work to do on their roster before the NBA season officially tips off. By Oct. 19, L.A. must drop from 16 standard contracts to 15. They have multiple avenues to doing so, by either sending out a player in a trade and returning no one, sending two players out in exchange for one or simply waiving a player.

The person most on the chopping block is Dalton Knecht, the 17th overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft who has fallen completely out of favor with head coach JJ Redick. He might ultimately be waived, but the Lakers are certainly looking to trade him first, and one potential option has involved Jericho Sims and the Milwaukee Bucks, according to NBA insider Jake Fischer:

The Lakers, meanwhile, have been engaged in trade talks to try to get their roster down from 16 to 15 standard contracts and perhaps even acquire some additional frontcourt help in the process.

League sources say that the Lakers and Bucks have held exploratory trade discussions on a framework that would ship former first-round selection Dalton Knecht to Milwaukee (along with second-round draft capital) in exchange for big man Jericho Sims. Yet it must be said that I’ve also heard some pessimism from sources briefed on those talks that such a trade will actually go through.

The Lakers might be forced, if no deal materializes between now and Monday’s deadline, to simply waive Knecht to get down to 15.

Knecht for Sims is a legal trade in terms of the league’s salary matching rules. However, it would not help with the Lakers roster compliance issues, as they would still need to drop down to 15 after this deal is made. And based on the reporting above, this deal is far from a sure thing.

NBA teams typically work on deadlines. They very rarely make moves until they have to, meaning there’s a real chance this drags on until the waning minutes before Monday’s deadline.

Sims would be a nice piece for L.A., and if they can figure out a way to get him, get to the legal roster limit and not blow through all of their remaining draft capital, that would be a big win for the Lakers’ frontcourt depth.

JJ Redick believes Lakers are already building chemistry

The Lakers haven’t played a game yet with all of their major pieces healthy and available, but head coach JJ Redick seems to already see a chemistry forming, and is excited for what that means when everybody is in the lineup.

“I think there’s a natural chemistry with this group that I think started over the summer in Vegas,” Redick said prior to the Lakers’ preseason contest against the Golden State Warriors. “Right here, at our vet minicamp that we had every guy show up for, outside of Luka, who was back home in Slovenia with his family and then of course the Ljubljana trip I think helped expedite chemistry as well. We had a wonderful team dinner last night… We’re doing things.”