Four Days After the Lakers Waived Him, Dalton Knecht Agrees to a Two-Way Deal With the Knicks

Photo: NBA.com. Dalton Knecht, the 2024 No. 17 pick, who agreed Friday to a two-way deal with the New York Knicks.

Dalton Knecht has agreed to a two-way contract with the New York Knicks, his agents at Excel Sports Management told ESPN on Friday, four days after the Lakers waived him at the roster deadline. SNY's Ian Begley and ClutchPoints' Brett Siegel reported the Knicks will waive Kevin McCullar Jr., one of their three two-way players, to open the spot. The Lakers keep paying Knecht's $4,201,080 guaranteed salary as dead money.

The Dyme covered the Lakers' side of this on Monday in Dalton Knecht Waived by the Lakers With $4.2 Million Still Guaranteed. Friday is the other half of that story.

The only door that was open

New York is about $809,000 below the second apron, per Hoops Rumors' Oct. 23 look at the teams with a standard roster opening. Hoops Rumors reported that signing any free agent as a 15th man would push the Knicks over it, that Dolan is unwilling to cross it, and that Bruce Brown was cut at the end of the preseason. The Knicks are carrying 14 standard contracts, so the 15th spot is still empty.

A two-way deal gets around all of it. Two-way contracts are excluded from team salary, so Knecht costs the Knicks nothing against the cap or the aprons. The price is a two-way slot, and McCullar is the one paying it. Hoops Rumors listed McCullar, Tyler Nickel and Jaden Akins as New York's three two-way players.

Minnesota, Sacramento and Toronto were also linked to Knecht, and Hoops Rumors noted each of the three had a two-way opening.

The shooter the Knicks are betting on

Go back to Nov. 19, 2024, against Utah. Knecht hit nine threes, tying the NBA rookie single-game record, and scored 37, including 21 in the third quarter, per the AP. He played 78 games with 16 starts, averaged 9.1 points in 19.2 minutes, and made 128 of 340 threes, 37.6% on 4.4 attempts a game, per Basketball Reference.

The shot came with him from college. He averaged 21.7 points and hit 39.7% from three at Tennessee in 2023-24, won SEC Player of the Year and made the consensus All-America team before the Lakers took him 17th.

Then the floor went away. In 2025-26 he played 54 games, started one, and averaged 4.2 points in 10.2 minutes. His three-point volume fell to 111 attempts for the whole season, and he made 34.2% of them.

Why the Lakers moved on

The Lakers traded him to Charlotte in February 2025 in the Mark Williams deal, then got him back when the trade was rescinded two days later. They picked up his third-year option in October 2025, which guaranteed this season's salary. This month they shopped him for Jericho Sims and other help, came up empty, and cut him to get from 16 guaranteed contracts down to 15.

Where he fits under Mike Brown

In Tuesday's 106-100 opening-night loss to Philadelphia, Karl-Anthony Towns got into early foul trouble and Andre Drummond played 24 minutes in his Knicks debut, finishing with 12 points and 14 rebounds. Brown said afterward he has to keep getting to know Drummond "to see where the minutes may lie for him to be effective."

Sporting News wrote that most of Knecht's opportunities would likely come when OG Anunoby or Josh Hart miss time.

What two-way actually means for him

A two-way player can be on the active list for up to 50 regular-season games, and because Knecht is signing after the season started, the CBA prorates that number by the days remaining in the season. There is a second limit too. Hoops Rumors' two-way tracker says a team that is not carrying a full 15-man standard roster can use its two-way players for a combined 90 "under-15" games. The Knicks have 14 standard contracts, so that limit applies to them, and Knecht, Nickel and Akins would share it.

Two-way players also cannot play in the play-in or the playoffs unless they are promoted to the standard roster, which can happen any time up to the last day of the regular season. A standard deal counts against team salary. By The Dyme's math, converting him would put New York over the second apron unless salary moves, since it is about $809,000 under it, per Hoops Rumors.

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Sources: ESPN / Shams Charania (Knecht agrees to two-way with Knicks, his agents at Excel Sports Management tell ESPN; same wording on X), SNY / Ian Begley on X (McCullar to be waived), ClutchPoints / Brett Siegel on X (McCullar to be waived), Hoops Rumors (Minnesota/Sacramento/Toronto linked, each with a two-way opening; McCullar, Nickel and Akins on two-ways), Hoops Rumors, teams with standard roster openings (Knicks about $809K below second apron as of Oct. 23, Dolan, Bruce Brown, 14 standard contracts), Hoops Rumors signing post (written confirmation of the ESPN report; also reports HoopsHype's Michael Scotto has the Knicks waiving McCullar), amNY (106-100 opener, Drummond line, Brown quote), Basketball Reference (NBA stats and totals), Sports Reference (Tennessee stats and awards), AP via NBA.com (nine threes tying the rookie record, 37 points, 21 in the third quarter vs. Utah), Hoops Rumors, 2026-27 two-way tracker (50 games, 90 under-15 games, postseason rule), NBA CBA 101 (two-way rules and proration), The CBA Guide (two-way contracts excluded from team salary), Sporting News (minutes when Anunoby or Hart miss), Spotrac (rescinded Charlotte trade), Hoops Rumors (option, $4,201,080 guaranteed), Basketnews (16 guaranteed contracts, Sims talks).