Philadelphia 76ers’ President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey has a knack for finding valuable and underutilized players for cheap. The latest example is when he acquired Quentin Grimes from the Dallas Mavericks.
Morey will be on the prowl for cheap help for the Sixers. That means he could find productive players in the least likely places. Los Angeles Lakers rookie Dalton Knecht is one player who could fit that bill.
Bleacher Report floated Knecht as a trade target for the Sixers during the offseason, noting that doing so would give Philadelphia “cheap shooting.” Knecht has shown that he can get hot when he shoots threes, and his only problem is his inconsistency. Luckily, if he were to join Philadelphia, he would get plenty of open shots playing next to Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and Paul George.
Philadelphia has seen success when they’ve brought in past sharpshooters like JJ Redick, Seth Curry, and Buddy Hield. Knecht hasn’t proven himself to be on their level, but he’s got plenty of time to prove he can. It took a while for Redick to prove himself, and he turned out to be a valued role player and shooter.
It would seem hard to believe that the Sixers could trade for the youngster, but the Lakers nearly traded Knecht before the NBA trade deadline passed. At the time, they wanted frontcourt help after trading Anthony Davis away, but this still demonstrated that Knecht was not untouchable.
The one bottleneck in a potential trade between the Sixers and Lakers regarding Knecht is that the former doesn’t have anything the latter would want. It’d be hard for the Sixers to offer Grimes or Jared McCain for Knecht, just as it’s hard for the Lakers to trade Knecht for little value.
It’s a fun idea to bring Knecht to Philadelphia, but a deal would require a trade maestro. Luckily, the Sixers have one in their front office.
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