Jaime Jaquez Jr. is finally movable, and a new trade pitch aimed at the Los Angeles Lakers would take him from the Milwaukee Bucks and send him back to Southern California for 25-year-old former Lakers first-round pick Dalton Knecht.
The proposal, constructed using the tools provided by the site FanSpo, is a salary-matching swap on both cap sheets. Los Angeles would send Knecht and three second-round picks to Milwaukee for Jaquez, a deal that only became possible this month once Jaquez’s two-month aggregation restriction from the Giannis trade expired.
Jaime Jaquez Jr.’s Road From Camarillo
Jaquez grew up in Camarillo, California, the son of a family whose roots trace to Sinaloa, Durango and Zapotlanejo. He scored 2,653 points at Adolfo Camarillo High before four seasons starring at UCLA, where he finished eighth in school history in scoring and made a Final Four. Miami drafted him 18th in 2023, and he made the All-Rookie team as a rookie.
Jaquez posted career averages of 12.1 points to go with 4.4 rebounds and 3.3 assists across three Miami seasons, capped by a 15.4-point, 4.7-assist breakout in 2025-26 that made him the runner-up for Sixth Man of the Year.
Miami shipped him to Milwaukee that July in the package that sent Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Heat. He is a connector wing who cuts, attacks closeouts and defends physically. He does not space the floor. His career three-point percentage sits at 31.7 percent, and volume has always been low.
Dalton Knecht’s Fall From First-Round Pick
Knecht took the scenic route to the NBA. No Division I program showed interest in the 6-foot-1 senior out of a Colorado high school. He grew five inches at a junior college, transferred to Tennessee and won SEC Player of the Year honors shooting 39.7 percent from three. Los Angeles took him 17th in 2024.
Year one looked promising with 9.1 points per game and 37.6 percent shooting from 3-point range. Year two brought a collapse. Knecht’s minutes were cut in half, and he played 3.6 minutes a game in the playoffs. A wave of veteran wings signed after LeBron James left has buried him further on the depth chart. Knecht is due $4.2 million in 2026-27, and Los Angeles still holds a 2027-28 team option worth $6.45 million.
Financially, Los Angeles absorbs a modest cap increase and stays hard-capped at the first apron, a manageable cost for a proven wing on an expiring contract with restricted free agency looming in 2027. Milwaukee, meanwhile, is rebuilding after it sent Antetokounmpo to Miami, and offloading Jaquez’s salary through a traded-player exception clears nearly $6 million while stacking three future second-round picks.
Competitively, the two sides split. FanSpo‘s model projects a one-win upgrade and a sizable defensive jump for the Lakers, who badly need a wing who can guard and cut next to Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. For Milwaukee, the model shows the reverse — less defense, less depth, but a younger, cheaper asset in Knecht and draft capital for a longer rebuild.
Jaquez would slide into the dunker spot and secondary playmaking role Los Angeles has lacked since James departed.
Knecht, for his part, is only 25 and two seasons removed from a Tennessee scoring title. If his outside shot ever returns to college form, Milwaukee’s bet on youth and flexibility ages far better than it looks today.
Lakers Trade Pitch Sends Dalton Knecht to Bucks for Jaime Jaquez Jr.