On Monday, JJ Redick revealed that Bronny James and Dalton Knecht were both excused absences from practice on Monday. Both were ill, a statement The Athletic felt compelled to confirm in a follow-up report because, well, it seemed more like they both had a concerning case of Roster Bubble-itis. The Los Angeles Lakers spent most of the offseason with 16 players under standard contracts.
Monday was the deadline to trim the roster down to 15, and the two likeliest candidates to get moved were their two 2024 draft picks. Redick himself said that he didn't think James played well in the preseason. He shot just 4-of-16 from the floor, and the Lakers lost his 82 minutes by 31 points.
Yet the bar, apparently, was even lower, as it was ultimately Knecht, the No. 17 pick in that 2024 class, who was waived. All told, the pair of them and everything that has followed amounts to an abject disaster of a draft class for Rob Pelinka. Consider the following: At least to this point, the 2024 draft class has been a failure at every level.
The Lakers picked the wrong players, developed them poorly and mismanaged the process of moving on from them. It's emblematic of many of the failures that have come under Pelinka. The Lakers land big-name players because they're the Lakers, and then they botch the margins around them.
Why exactly James outlasted Knecht could come down to a number of factors. The more defensively oriented James is arguably the better fit on this offense-centric roster than Knecht, whose best trait is theoretically his shooting. James is undeniably the bigger name of the two just because of, well, his actual name.
Technically speaking, the Lakers still have a LeBron James on their team. Neither played well in the preseason. We don't know what happened behind closed doors at training camp practices.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
