Within the 2017 NBA Draft, the purple and gold took Lonzo Ball at No. 2 as a consensus All-American, and final night time they did the identical, however with Dalton Knecht because the seventeenth general choice. The arrival of the participant, who comes straight from Tennessee, has excited each coaches and executives in Los Angeles, as Rob Pelinka believes it was their finest consequence.
“I do not assume there’s any approach {that a} participant like that is going to be accessible to us on draft night time,” the Lakers vice chairman of basketball operations and normal supervisor mentioned. “Total, I simply could not be happier.”
The 23-year-old, who averaged 21.7 factors on 49.9 % taking pictures and 39.7 % from deep, is clearly a risk from distance. After his lone marketing campaign with the Volunteers, he rapidly transitioned to schools in Colorado in March and finally Tennessee, when he led them to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Event.
OFFICIAL: Welcome to the Purple & Gold household Dalton Knecht! pic.twitter.com/IppO0fMMIh
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) June 27, 2024
Many believed he could be a prime 10 choose, particularly after he scored 37 factors in an elimination loss to No. 1 seed Purdue three months in the past, however he in some way nonetheless managed to go undrafted within the into the palms of the Lakers. “If we had the tenth choose within the draft, we might have picked him,” Pelinka mentioned. “So to get that worth to 17 is admittedly extraordinary.”
Knecht later revealed that being snubbed out of the highest 10 is in some way symbolic of his basketball profession. “Each time I contact a basketball or stroll right into a fitness center, I at all times really feel like I’ve one thing to show; and regardless of the place I’m, it is at all times going to be there and I’ve that chip on my shoulder as a result of I really feel like I have been underestimated my entire life,” he mentioned after being drafted. “So it may be one thing that I carry with me for the remainder of my profession.”
Pelinka went on to say that Dalton’s abilities as a movement shooter even reminded him of JJ Redick as a participant. The final supervisor then revealed that the brand new Lakers coach was already drawing whiteboards within the draft room with Knecht’s identify on them.
“That’s actually thrilling,” the rising star mentioned of Redick’s response. “In Tennessee, I watched quite a lot of JJ Redick with Coach [Rick] Barnes and simply the best way he strikes and modifications his tempo and was capable of create house. So, after I hear that, it is actually thrilling and it may be actually particular.”
After the draft ceremony, Dalton nonetheless could not imagine he could be sharing the court docket with LeBron James and Anthony Davis
In April, LeBron James talked about Knecht’s identify when speaking concerning the reputation of girls’s basketball on the school stage. He defined that it’s the participant’s sheer expertise that attracts individuals to the stadiums and will increase the scores.
“We watched that Purdue-Tennessee recreation due to Zach Edey and Knecht,” the famous person mentioned on the time. “Gamers, relying on who they’re, are going to attract consideration when it comes to viewership.”
Dalton later admitted that he could not imagine his eyes when he noticed the video. “I keep in mind that clip,” he informed reporters. “I awakened and rolled off the bed and I believed it was faux as a result of there have been lots of people texting me. I simply thought, ‘That may’t be.’ And after I noticed that video, I simply had a smile on my face. And my mother and father, they referred to as me straight away and informed me about it.
“In order that’s simply going to be particular. And it may be enjoyable to share that court docket with each of them. [Anthony Davis] and Supply. Bron is likely one of the largest. So it will likely be very particular.”