Again within the 2017 NBA Draft, the purple and gold took Lonzo Ball in No. 2 as a consensus All-American, and final evening did the identical however with Dalton Knecht with the seventeenth total choice. Straight out of Tennessee, the participant’s arrival has excited each coaches and executives in Los Angeles, as Rob Pelinka believes this was their finest consequence.
“In my thoughts, there isn’t a approach a participant like this can be accessible for us to choose on draft evening,” mentioned the Lakers vp of basketball operations and normal supervisor. “Throughout the board, simply couldn’t be happier.”
The 23-year-old, who averaged 21.7 factors on 49.9% capturing and 39.7% from the deep, is clearly a menace from vary. After his lone marketing campaign with the Volunteers, he rapidly jumped to schools in Colorado and at last Tennessee this March, 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 him to change into a prime 10 decide, particularly after he scored 37 factors in an elimination loss to No. 1-seeded Purdue three months in the past, however by some means managed to go undrafted all the way in which into the Lakers’ arms. “If we might have had the tenth decide within the draft, we might have taken him,” Pelinka mentioned. “So, to get that worth at 17 is basically extraordinary.”
Knecht later revealed that being snubbed off the highest 10 by some means symbolises his basketball profession. “Each time I contact a basketball or stroll right into a gymnasium, I all the time really feel like I received one thing to show; and it doesn’t matter the place I’m at, it’s all the time going to be there and have that chip on my shoulder for feeling like I’ve been underrated my complete life,” he mentioned after being drafted. “So, it’s going to be one thing that I’ll carry with me for the remainder of my profession.”
Pelinka went on to say that Dalton’s abilities as a motion shooter even remind him of JJ Redick as a participant. The overall supervisor then revealed that the brand new Lakers coach was already drawing whiteboards within the draft room with Knecht’s title on it.
“That’s actually thrilling,” the rising star mentioned about Redick’s response. “At Tennessee, I watched loads of JJ Redick with Coach [Rick] Barnes and simply the way in which he strikes and paces himself and was capable of create area. So, listening to that, it’s actually thrilling, and it’s going to be actual particular.”
After the draft ceremony, Dalton was nonetheless in disbelief he can be sharing the courtroom with LeBron James and Anthony Davis
Again in April, LeBron James talked about Knecht’s title whereas discussing the recognition of ladies’s faculty basketball, explaining that it’s the participant’s uncooked expertise that brings folks to the arenas and will increase viewership.
“We watched that Purdue-Tennessee recreation due to Zach Edey and Knecht,” the celebrity mentioned again then. “Gamers, relying on who they’re, will drive the eye in the case of viewership.”
Dalton later admitted that he couldn’t imagine his eyes when he noticed the video. “I keep in mind that clip,” he instructed reporters. “I wakened and rolled away from bed and I assumed it was pretend as a result of tons of individuals have been texting me. I used to be identical to, ‘There’s no approach.’ And after I watched that video, it simply introduced a smile to my face. And in addition my dad and mom, they known as me instantly and instructed me about it.
“So, that’s simply going to be particular. And it’s going to be enjoyable simply to be sharing that courtroom with each of them, [Anthony Davis] and Bron. Bron’s one of many best. So, it’s going to be actual particular.”