NBA Summer League California Classic Continues

On July 7, the NBA Summer League California Classic continued, with the Lakers defeating the Heat 103-83, achieving their first victory. However, behind this victory, the continued downturn of sophomore wing Dalton Kneckett has become the biggest concern for Lakers fans.

In this game, the highly-watched Brownie James played for 11 minutes, efficiently scored 10 points, 2 rebounds and 1 steal, and made 2 of 5 three-pointers, showing good shooting stability. However, Knector, who should have defeated all sides in the Xia Lianlian, once again delivered a disaster-level performance - making 2 of 7 shots, 0 of 3 three-pointers, scoring only 4 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists, and making 4 mistakes.

What is more worrying is that this is the second consecutive game of Kneckett's downturn. In the last game, he made 3 of 13 shots, 0 of 6 three-pointers, scored 10 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists, with a plus-minus value -14 the worst in the game.

After two games, Kneckett made 5 of 20 shots, 0 of 9 three-pointers, with a shooting percentage of only 25%, and a three-point shooting percentage of zero, with a plus-minus value of -13 on the field.

What's more ironic is that according to Kneckett himself, he insisted on "three practices a day" during the offseason, practicing his shooting and playing ball with the ball. However, Xia Lian's performance is in sharp contrast to his efforts - poor shooting choices, poor breakthroughs, missed defense, and even made three shots.

Looking back on last season, his highlight moments of 37 points and 32 points in a single game are still vivid in my mind, and his performance of averaging 9.1 points and 2.8 rebounds per game in the rookie season is also remarkable. However, Xia Lian's continued downturn exposed fatal shortcomings: his defensive end was slow and he was targeted by his opponent in two games and lost five times. In contrast, the undrafted Cole Sweed became the biggest highlight of the Lakers' Summer United: the Warriors in the first match: 24 points and 8 rebounds, 6 of 8 three-pointers, the Heat: 20 points and 3 rebounds, Sweed's efficient performance became the biggest surprise of the Lakers' Summer United.

What's even more heartbreaking is that Brownie can efficiently output as the No. 55 pick last season, while Kneckett's official contract continues to be sluggish, which makes his position even more embarrassing.

According to the schedule, the Lakers will face the Spurs on July 9, which may be Kneckett's last chance to save himself. If he continues to be sluggish, he may not only lose the starting position of the Summer League, but also affect the rotation of the new season.

Lakes included him in the trading scope last season. If Kneckett still performs unstable, he may be traded again at any time.