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With LeBron James turning 40 this season, his former rival, Boston Celtics legend Paul Pierce, is urging the Los Angeles Lakers to not waste the final stretch of his historic NBA career.
“So if we’re saying that, hey, we got two more years of LeBron at a pretty good level, and we still got [Anthony Davis] in this prime,” Pierce said on Fox Sports’ “Undisputed” on July 19. “And we’re saying the Lakers, as constructed, aren’t good enough. They’ve been a play-in team.
And if they have to include James’ favorite college player, besides his son Bronny, last season, Pierce believes they should do it in a heartbeat.
“Dalton Knecht has improved his stock, right? Now you can throw him in a package where you can probably net a third star. I don’t know who that star is, but I’m happy to see that Knecht is playing this way, because if he hadn’t been playing this way, then that’s not even a possibility,” Pierce said.
Lakers’ Trade Package for 3rd Star
Knecht, the 17th overall pick of the last draft, has been the Lakers’ best player in Las Vegas, averaging 21.3 points and 5.3 rebounds while shooting 39% from 3-point distance in three games.
“So, if the Lakers want to contend, they have some valuable pieces they can put together now in a trade package, which makes more sense to me. Two more years of a good LeBron, you know, he
might be now off into the sunset,” Pierce said.
Packaging Knecht with the Lakers’ 2029 and 2031 first-rounders might just be enough to land them a third star.
A combination of Knecht ($3.8 million) with D’Angelo Russell ($18.7 million), Rui Hachimura ($17 million) and Gabe Vincent ($11 million) would get them to roughly $50 million salary, good enough for a max star.
Or they could spare some of them for depth and go after Utah Jazz star Lauri Markkanen ($18 million), a stretch four whose game will complement James and Davis’ bully ball plays.
Dalton Knecht Was LeBron James’ Favorite College Player
James is a big fan of Knecht. He was thrilled when the SEC Player of the Year fell on the Lakers’ lap as he slid down in the draft.
“I didn’t know he would fall to 17, at all,” James told reporters at the start of the Team USA training camp in Las Vegas on July 6, “so I didn’t think we would have an opportunity to get him. But I’m glad we did. I’m glad we did.”
Knecht’s shooting and competitive edge caught James’ attention during the college season.
“Throughout the course of the college season, Dalton, besides Bronny (James), was my favorite player in college basketball,” James said. “I watched his games throughout the whole season.”
The Lakers superstar was not lying as months earlier, during the NBA Playoffs, he was recorded in a locker room interview speaking about the Elite Eight game between Purdue and Tennessee because of Knecht and Zach Edey, who went to the Memphis Grizzlies as ninth overall pick.
Knecht and the Volunteers lost to Edey and his Boilermakers to bow out of the NCAA Tournament, an anti-climactic ending to the Lakers rookie’s final year in college.
At Tennessee, Knecht captivated college hoops fans and even James with several 35-plus scoring performances on his way to averaging 21.7 points per game and shooting nearly 40 percent from three-point range.
“I just liked his ability to shoot the ball, his athleticism, his height, his demeanor that he played with,” James said. “I’ve always kind of felt like his game would translate to the NBA.”
This early, Knecht is proving James right.
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