With Rui Hachimura out due to an ankle injury, the Los Angeles Lakers called upon Dalton Knecht to replace his spot in the starting lineup for their Tuesday night NBA Cup battle against the Utah Jazz. Knecht has earned it anyway; he’s coming off a solid three-game stretch in which he averaged 20 points per game on 63.8 percent shooting from the field, and he’s looking to keep it going against a paper-soft Jazz defense.
But even the most ardent Knecht supporters would not have foreseen his scoring outburst in the Lakers’ 124-118 win over the Jazz. The 23-year-old rookie scored 37 points and tied a rookie record for most threes in a single game with nine. Following the game, LeBron James was Knecht’s biggest hypeman, as James reminded the league of how much they messed up by not selecting him earlier in the draft.
“They didn’t find DK. The other 16 teams f**ked it up,” James said with a wry smile on his face following the Lakers’ win, via Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “Did anybody watch him? F**k. S**t. They didn’t just f**k it up.”
LeBron James on the Lakers front office drafting Dalton Knecht: “They didn’t find DK … the other 16 teams f—-ed it up” pic.twitter.com/agmO547mnW
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) November 20, 2024
On draft night, Knecht stood out as a major steal for the Lakers at pick 17, and he’s proven this to be correct during his brief stint thus far in the NBA. And when the King speaks, everyone better take their time to listen. One of the major needs of a James and Anthony Davis-led team is to have shooters on the team, and Knecht landed in the perfect spot for him to make the most out of his skillset.
James has had full trust in Knecht ever since preseason; the Lakers have been urging the 23-year-old to just let it fly, giving him the ultimate green light. And he has been making the most out of his extended opportunity in the starting lineup. Perhaps, even upon Rui Hachimura’s return, head coach JJ Redick opts to start Knecht or at least give him a bigger role off the bench.
Dalton Knecht goes nuclear for the Lakers in the third quarter
Dalton Knecht put the league on notice for how well he can put up points in bunches when he gets on a heater from beyond the arc. His preseason performance against the Suns still lives long in the memory. But for him to do so in a regular-season game, and in an NBA Cup matchup, no less? Knecht is simply cementing himself as one of the biggest steals of this year’s draft (alongside Jared McCain).
With 3:29 left in the third quarter, the Lakers were up by just 11 points, with the Jazz still keeping themselves within striking distance. Knecht, however, decided to basically put the game to bed. He scored the Lakers’ final 18 points of the quarter, nailing five triples and three free throws without a single miss, to push their lead to 22.
Knecht’s body language said it all; he was beaming with confidence, and he simply was not to be stopped. The Jazz’s putrid defense may have played a part in this explosion, but Knecht deserves plenty of credit for all the shots he made during that heater.
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