Draymond Green says Dalton Knecht's agent ruined his career, blames failed trade

Draymond Green says Dalton Knecht has been "in purgatory ever since" his trade to the Charlotte Hornets was rescinded, and the Golden State Warriors veteran believes the young forward's career has paid the price.

"Ultimately, I think it ruined him," Green said on his podcast, according to www.basketballnetwork.net.

Green didn't stop at sympathy. He pointed a finger squarely at Knecht's representation.

"The moment that trade didn't go through, that agent should have been working on the lines of getting him out of L.A.," Green said. He called Knecht's continued presence on the Lakers "absolutely awful, awful representation" per www.basketballnetwork.net.

Green admitted he doesn't even know who Knecht's agent is — the identity is not named in the source.

The stakes are immediate. With the 2026-27 season less than a month away, teams must trim rosters to 15 players, and reports indicate Knecht is among the most likely Lakers to be waived, according to www.basketballnetwork.net.

The Lakers initially tried to trade him for Buddy Hield this summer. That deal reportedly fell through, leaving Knecht in limbo as the roster cut approaches.

THE RESCINDED TRADE

What exactly happened to Knecht tracks back to one moment last season. According to www.basketballnetwork.net, he was traded to the Charlotte Hornets midway through the 2025-26 campaign, only for the deal to be rescinded. The specific reason the trade was rescinded is not in the source.

After returning to the Lakers, Knecht "never quite looked like the same player," per www.basketballnetwork.net. The numbers back that up. Late in the regular season, he went scoreless in three of the five contests he appeared in during March and scored less than four points in the other two, according to the same outlet.

The source frames the mental toll plainly. For a young player trying to establish himself as a fan favorite on a large-market team like the Lakers, being traded away and then suddenly forced to return to the same organization was "mentally difficult." The whiplash of packing for Charlotte and unpacking in Los Angeles broke something in his game.