Lakers coach JJ Redick was seen alone on the bench before the November 28, 2025, game versus the Mavericks in Los Angeles.

In other news, the Lakers sent Dalton Knecht, their former first-round pick, to the South Bay Lakers, their G League affiliate, this Monday. Word is that Rob Pelinka and the front office are planning to trade Knecht before the February 5 deadline.

The Lakers also assigned guard Adou Thiero to South Bay. This is supposedly Knecht’s first assignment to the G League this year.

Knecht came to Los Angeles with a lot of hype but hasn't quite lived up to it in his first season and a half. He showed flashes of being a good shooter in his first year, making 1.6 threes per game at a 38% clip. But he hasn't really improved since then. This year, he's averaging 6.4 points and 1.9 rebounds in 15.1 minutes per game, shooting 36% from beyond the arc in 20 appearances.

The 24-year-old hasn't been great on defense either, which has kept Redick from giving him more minutes.

Redick was initially excited about Knecht.

The Lakers coach was thrilled when they drafted Knecht with the No. 17 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. It was Redick’s first time being in an NBA war room before his first season coaching the team in 2024-25.

Redick thought the Lakers got a steal in Knecht because of his ability to shoot on the move—a skill that's valued in today's NBA.

According to ESPN, a team source said that the new Lakers coach Redick is a big fan of this pick, since he’s been talking about how important it is to add shooting to the roster. Considering Redick made over 2,000 NBA 3s in his career at a 41% clip, this isn't surprising.

Reportedly, Redick also believed that Knecht, who spent five years in college, was more ready for the NBA than other rookies and could make an instant impact.

A Lakers team source told ESPN, None of us thought he’d be there. It’s crazy. He’s the most ready guy in the draft, ready to play right away.

Summer League Issues

Redick’s opinion of Knecht seemed to shift at the start of the 2025-26 season after watching him struggle in the Summer League. Knecht averaged 6.4 points and 1.9 rebounds, shooting 36% from three in the Las Vegas exhibition games leading up to the new NBA season.

Redick said about Knecht, “It’s the other stuff (besides offense) that he’s got to just do and find that consistency in his defense, on being the low man, or boxing out, or crashing every time, or sprinting back and actually talking in transition.”

He added, When he’s doing those things, he’s an impact player.

Redick mentioned that he had several meetings with Knecht during the offseason, encouraging him to work on certain aspects of his game to be successful in the pros.

Redick noted, “We probably met three times over the summer and met again in September, like it’s clear what he’s supposed to do.”

Those three practices, our video room, and our analytics guys, they tracked every stat in live play. He had an unbelievable three days offensively. I’m very confident that when he’s confident, he’s a high-level offensive player in the NBA.

Laura Woods recently opened up about her worries about potential backlash after sharing her views on the gender debate that surrounded the 2024 Olympic Games. The heart of the issue was Algerian boxer Imane Khelif's participation and her gold medal in the women's welterweight division at the Paris Olympics.

A year prior, Khelif and China's Lin Yu-ting were barred from the World Championships by the International Boxing Association (IBA). This organization, backed by Russia and not well-regarded, claimed blood tests proved Khelif wasn't eligible to compete against women.

The IBA didn't give any real proof to back up their claims. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) didn't think the tests were believable. They let both athletes compete in the Games.

Woods, a TNT Sports presenter, publicly supported a Telegraph article that said the IOC's choice to let Khelif (who had been incorrectly called transgender) and Lin compete put female athletes at risk.

Woods told the newspaper that she feared speaking out could have gotten her canceled. Woods, 38, said she felt like there was a big injustice happening.

She was angry that anyone who wanted to talk about it was made to feel like they were wrong.

She added that it still bothers her because Khelif got a lot of sympathy, but the women around her didn't.

She was shocked that even questioning it could have led to being canceled. After beating Yang Liu in last year's final, Khelif plans to compete at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.

This is in response to President Donald Trump's plan to ban biological men from women's sports and his false statement that Khelif was born male. The boxer addressed these claims earlier this year.

Khelif told ITV Sport that she is not transgender. This does not concern her, and it does not intimidate her.

She said the scrutiny she faced last year really hurt her mental and emotional well-being. She felt discouraged, but she knew what was going on.

During the Paris Olympics, she had a team of doctors who supported her. Without them, she might have become depressed.

After Khelif's second-round win over Italy's Angela Carini, she received lots of backlash. She beat Carini in just 46 seconds, and Carini reportedly said, "It's not fair," after Khelif punched her.