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Lakers’ Teammates Praise Dalton Knecht

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Entering the 2024 NBA Draft, the Los Angeles Lakers had hopes of finding a gem to help the team into the new season. Front office and general manager Rob Pelinka couldn’t believe that Dalton Knecht fell to them in the first round. The Lakers drafted Knecht with the 17th overall pick. Through the NBA preseason, Knecht showed his versatility as a prominent scorer. As the season is underway, head coach JJ Redick has full trust in Knecht’s capabilities on the floor. His usage on the floor will continue to help as LA is dealing with several injured players. With his confidence continuing to rise and Knecht fully understanding his role with the Lakers, his teammates have been giving the praise and recognition he deserves in his rookie year.

Lakers Teammates Praise Dalton Knecht

Origin of Knecht’s Basketball Career

Knecht would start his high school basketball career playing at Prairie View High School. For his college career, he began at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, Colorado. As a sophomore, his numbers grew tremendously as he averaged 23.9 points, 7.5 rebounds and two assists per game.

Following his junior college experience, Knecht committed to transfer to Northern Colorado to continue his college basketball career. After his senior season, Knecht decided to play one more year as student-athletes were granted an extra year of eligibility due to COVID-19.

Knecht transferred to Tennessee for the 2023–24 season. In his one year there, Knechr was appointed as the SEC Player of the Year. With such great accomplishments throughout his college career, NBA prospects still deemed him as an “old” rookie heading into the draft. However, he continues to prove doubters wrong and potentially has a shot at Rookie of the Year. Luckily, he fell to the Lakers and is now shining bright with the purple and gold.

Praise & Excitement for Knecht’s Play

Anthony Davis

Dalton Knecht has the full confidence of all of his teammates as a shooter and for the most part he has proven them right. Lakers superstar Anthony Davis recently spoke on this, saying that he thinks every shot Knecht takes is going in.

“Anytime he shoots the ball I think it’s going in, that’s why we get so frustrated and upset when he doesn’t shoot, he’s a great player. He can defend, he can shoot, he can put it on the floor, he can pass, so he can do it all. But when he has his stretches where he gets hot it’s a big boost for our team and we’re able to feed off that energy and most of the time we make a run off of it.”

LeBron James

Knecht, who got off to a slow start to this season, started to pick up in the past several games. Against New Orleans, he had 27 efficient points, seven rebounds and some big plays down the stretch to help the Lakers come away with a 104-99 victory. That was followed by his unreal NBA Cup performance against the Utah Jazz where he finished with 37 points shooting 75% from deep. He tied a NBA single-game rookie record with his nine threes made. LeBron James, who praised Knecht before, said that he wasn’t surprised by Knecht’s impressive outing.

“His shooting, his finishes. He can get is off versus anybody. He’s 6-foot-8, 6-foot-9, and he’s got a quick trigger, so it doesn’t take long for him to get them up. He’s sneaky athletic as well so his ability, when he starts getting those threes to go and then he’s putting the ball on the ground and finishing at the rim as well, we saw that a couple times tonight. It was big-time for us, especially with Rui being out, Cam being out.”

It hasn’t just been the two superstars to give praise towards the Lakers rookie. The whole team believes in Knecht and are instilling great confidence in him. When you have your coaching staff and players supporting you along your NBA career and believing in your skills, it only will come with success for himself and the team. It’s great to see for the Lakers. His usage should continue to be beneficial and very important moving forward through the season.

The post Lakers’ Teammates Praise Dalton Knecht appeared first on Last Word On Basketball.