Lakers’ Dalton Knecht gets ‘steal of the draft’ label from former NBA player

There were a lot of rumors swirling around the Los Angeles Lakers ahead of the 2024 NBA Draft that they would use the No. 17 to make a trade for a veteran player to help LeBron James and Anthony Davis. However, when Dalton Knecht was shockingly still available at that point, LA pounced on the 6-foot-6 shooter. Now, many including former NBA player Theo Pinson believe that the Lakers got a draft day steal.

“The steal of the draft? Oh, Lakers’ Knecht, from Tennessee.” Pinson said on his To the Baha podcast with Raymond Felton. “He’s a bucket. I would’ve taken him first pick, but you know how everybody else is. ‘He’s too old,’ and all this s**t. He’s the best player in the draft.  He’s a dog, bro. He can play and he’s got bounce. He’ll punch on you, too. They talk about, they don’t know if he can guard. I’m like, bro, who can guard?”

Knecht averaged 21.7 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game last season for the Vols while shooting 39.9% from three-point range. The Northern Colorado transfer was SEC Player of the Year and a finalist for the national Naismith College Player of the Year Award won by Purdue’s Zach Edey.

The knock on Knecht is that he is an older prospect. He turned 23 on April 19, 2024. The new Lakers sharpshooter had a five-year college career that spanned three schools: Northeastern Junior College, University of Northern Colorado, and Tennessee.

To NBA scouts, the age means that his ceiling is likely not as high as the teenagers taken ahead of him in this draft. It could also mean that Knecht’s late blooming is not as much due to his NBA-level skill but the fact that he was a 22-year-old man playing against 18-year-old kids in a lot of situations.

Neither of those factors seems to bother Pinson, who seems to truly believe that Knecht has what it takes to be an NBA star.

The fascinating Lakers 2024 NBA Draft Class

Not since the Lakers traded Vlade Divac to the Charlotte Hornets for the rights to a high school kid named Kobe Bryant has an LA draft class been as interesting as the 2024 pair.

Dalton Knecht could be the steal of the draft and brings the shooting that LeBron James and Anthony Davis need to create a dynamic Lakers offense under first-time head coach JJ Redick. That said, maybe he fell to 17 for a reason and the former Volunteers star isn’t ready for primetime.

The truth of the matter is, though, that the Lakers’ second-round pick is going to get a lot more attention than Knecht once the season starts.

At 55, the Lakers took LeBron’s son, Bronny James, a 6-foot-1 “shooting” guard who averaged 19.3 minutes and 4.8 points per game while shooting 23.7% from three in his one season at USC.

Now, this Pac-12 rotation player is on the most famous team in the NBA playing alongside his father, the most famous player in the league. Surely this won’t create a media circus around the Lakers next season!