Lakers get immense value in Dalton Knecht as Tennessee star slides to No. 17 but links up with LeBron James

After a short but newsworthy tumble out of the lottery, Tennessee wing Dalton Knecht was scooped up by a team that can absolutely use his scoring versatility. The Los Angeles Lakers landed Knecht with the No. 17 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, acquiring a high-volume shooter to work alongside LeBron James next season.

Knecht took an extremely unconventional path to the NBA. He began his post-high school career at Northeastern Junior College and Northern Colorado before landing at Tennessee last season. He emerged as one of the nation’s best scorers once joining the Volunteers, leading the program to a 27-9 record as the consensus SEC Player of the Year.

Now, the North Dakota native — and one of the best offensive weapons in the draft — is moving to Hollywood.

“We would have never imagined a player as skilled and perfect for our needs would be there [at 17],” said Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka, who noted that Knecht was among the top 10 prospects on the franchise’s draft board. 

Knecht’s offensive skill set is going to be immediately valuable in L.A. He averaged 21.7 points last season and hit nearly 40% of his 3-pointers on high volume shooting at Tennessee. That will prove to be a boon for the Lakers as JJ Redick attempts to build an offense that emphasizes the long ball more than it did under Darvin Ham and Frank Vogel.

So, why did Knecht — frequently mocked in the middle of the lottery — fall all the way to No. 17? The easiest explanation is age with Knecht entering the draft at age 23.

Teams typically prefer to draft younger players in the lottery because of the perception that they will have more room to grow and more time in their careers. However, the Lakers are a team with win-now ambitions; they didn’t need to focus as much on long-term upside. L.A. is just happy to add a young, cheap player who can contribute right away alongside James.

Knecht is also a relatively weak defender, and at 6-foot-5, he doesn’t quite have the height you want for someone playing forward. The Lakers do have perimeter…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/lakers-get-immense-value-in-dalton-knecht-as-tennessee-star-slides-to-no-17-but-links-up-with-lebron-james/

Author : Sam Quinn

Publish date : 2024-06-27 02:29:39

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.