Hours before the trade deadline, the LA Lakers made another shocking move and traded Dalton Knecht to the Charlotte Hornets. The Lakers have received 23-year-old center Mark Williams in the trade. After the trade, Gilbert Arenas took to X to share his thoughts.
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Arenas hilariously claimed that this move is like the Lakers are trying to ‘clear out the trash’ from the locker room. He used a video of a sanitation worker throwing out trash into the pickup truck and mentioned Bronny James in the caption.
Arenas wrote, “Bronny cleaning out Knecht Lakers locker for Mark Williams.” This is clearly a joke as Bronny being a rookie on the team, has had nothing to do with the trade.
More importantly, Knecht can’t be considered trash because as a 23-year-old rookie, he was doing great for the franchise. Knecht had played all 48 games for the Lakers so far and was averaging 9.4 points, 3.1 rebounds and 0.9 assists.
Bronny cleaning out Knecht Lakers locker for Mark Williams pic.twitter.com/Uh1p3Q9l5Y
— Gilbert Arenas (@GilsArenaShow) February 6, 2025
Bronny might’ve been brought into this equation because both of them are rookies and the Lakers might not be able to develop them as players at the same time. Knecht was getting 20.7 minutes per game to Bronny’s 4 MPG. Regardless, Arenas’ post is merely a joke on the current situation.
The Lakers have also sent Cam Reddish to the Hornets alongside a 2031 unprotected first-round pick, and a 2030 pick swap. Trading Knecht might hurt the Lakers for a while because he was steadily coming into his own. However, getting a seven-foot center in return might help them get over the loss soon.
BREAKING — TRADE DETAILS:
LAKERS:
– Mark WilliamsHORNETS:
– Dalton Knecht
– Cam Reddish
– 2031 unprotected first-round pick
– 2030 pick swapWOW. 🍿🍿🍿🍿 (via @ShamsCharania) pic.twitter.com/cTn9iztj1j
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) February 6, 2025
Although it’s too soon to have a clear picture of where Williams will fit into that structure, he is a brilliant offensive center and can be a deadly lob threat for Luka Doncic and LeBron James. As per Ramona Shelburne, the Lakers were in search of a center for a long time.
Lakers had been looking for a big but once they got Luka this week, they knew exactly what kind of big they wanted. From what I’ve heard, in Luka’s initial basketball conversations he told Lakers GM Rob Pelinka he played best when he had a vertical lob threat. When Charlotte…
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) February 6, 2025
However, when they brought Luka in, he asked Rob Pelinka to get him a vertical lob threat as he plays at his best with that kind of help available on the floor. So, when the Hornets approached the Lakers, stating that they liked Knecht, it became an easy trade for them.
