Bronny James and Dalton Knecht won’t play in the Los Angeles Lakers’ Summer League finale.
According to Spectrum SportsNet’s Lakers beat reporter Mike Trudell, the duo will be held out of the Lakers’ final game in Las Vegas on Saturday against the Chicago Bulls. Trudell said the decision to sit their two draft picks for the consolation contest was “a team medical decision based on volume of practices and games throughout the Cali Classic and Las Vegas” summer leagues.
Knecht, the 2023-24 SEC Player of the Year, entered Saturday’s games in Las Vegas leading all rookie scorers with 21.3 points per game in the 2024 NBA Summer League.
In Los Angeles’ most recent game Friday vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers, Knecht, the 17th overall pick, posted his third 20-point performance of the summer as he finished with 20 points on 7-of-16 shooting. His best game this summer for the Lakers came on July 13 vs. the Houston Rockets when he put up 25 points on 9-of-18 shooting with six rebounds and four assists in the Lakers’ 99-88 loss.
