The Lakers’ decision to move on from Dalton Knecht has created an opening, and the 76ers could be one of the teams ready to take advantage.
Knecht, now 25, was once viewed as a productive rookie with real promise. But after Los Angeles tried - and failed - to trade him before the deadline, his confidence appeared to take a hit, and he spent most of his time in LA stuck on the bench. That carried into the next campaign, when he averaged just 10.2 minutes per game and had a rough time as a floor spacer.
Even so, there’s still a clear case for Philadelphia to look at him once the timing lines up. The 76ers can’t fill their 15th roster spot yet, which means any move for Knecht would have to wait until December, when the front office is allowed to add a player on a prorated veteran’s minimum deal. Once that window opens, he should at least be on their radar as a low-cost project.
The appeal is simple: shooting. Knecht knocked down nearly 38 percent of his threes as a rookie on strong volume, and that kind of perimeter touch would fit neatly in Philadelphia. The 76ers need more spacing around their stars, and if defenders are forced to pay more attention elsewhere, Knecht could get cleaner chances to punish them from deep.
He is not a cure-all for the team’s shooting problems, but the 76ers do need to keep hunting for useful additions wherever they can find them. That’s why Knecht makes sense as a player to monitor, especially with LeBron having publicly vouched for him when he was a rookie.
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Giannis Gave Heat Fans A Thrill And A Bigger Concern
Opening night offered a little of everything for the early read on the East, and Giannis Antetokounmpo delivered the kind of individual performance that can change the mood around a franchise in a hurry. The Miami Heat may have come up short, but Giannis was the most unavoidable force on the floor, piling up points and making it clear why every opponent still has to plan for him first, even in a game that slips away.
For Philadelphia, the bigger takeaway is less about the Heat's final result and more about what a player like Giannis means if Miami eventually gets the rest of the pieces aligned. The 76ers already had their own opening-night storyline to savor, but any team watching the East has to notice when a star produces at that level in a loss, because nights like this tend to linger as the season starts taking shape. [Read more 🡒]