Lakers imagine Dalton Knecht's draft choice comes with 'extraordinary' worth

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 greatest final result. 

“In my thoughts, there is no such thing as a approach a participant like this will probably be obtainable for us to choose on draft evening,” stated the Lakers vp of basketball operations and basic supervisor. “Throughout the board, simply couldn’t be happier.”

The 23-year-old, who averaged 21.7 factors on 49.9% taking pictures 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 eventually Tennessee this March, when he led them to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Match.

OFFICIAL: Welcome to the Purple & Gold household Dalton Knecht! pic.twitter.com/IppO0fMMIh

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) June 27, 2024

Many believed him to turn 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 best way into the Lakers’ fingers. “If we might have had the tenth decide within the draft, we might have taken him,” Pelinka stated. “So, to get that worth at 17 is actually 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 obtained 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 stated 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 stated about Redick’s response. “At Tennessee, I watched a whole lot of JJ Redick with Coach [Rick] Barnes and simply the best way he strikes and paces himself and was in a position to create house. 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 could be sharing the court docket 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 individuals to the arenas and will increase viewership.

“We watched that Purdue-Tennessee sport due to Zach Edey and Knecht,” the famous person stated again then. “Gamers, relying on who they’re, will drive the eye relating to viewership.”

Dalton later admitted that he couldn’t imagine his eyes when he noticed the video. “I do not forget that clip,” he informed reporters. “I wakened and rolled off the bed and I assumed it was faux as a result of tons of individuals have been texting me. I used to be similar to, ‘There’s no approach.’ And after I watched that video, it simply introduced a smile to my face. And in addition my mother and father, they referred to as me straight away and informed me about it.

“So, that’s simply going to be particular. And it’s going to be enjoyable simply to be sharing that court docket with each of them, [Anthony Davis] and Bron. Bron’s one of many biggest. So, it’s going to be actual particular.”