Most rookies struggle with making the jump from the amateurs to the professional level. After all, the game is faster, and there are more schemes and notes for them to digest. This is why NBA players rarely peak in their first year in the association. Nonetheless, for the Los Angeles Lakers, however, they are hoping that the selection of Dalton Knecht with the 17th overall pick of the 2024 NBA Draft pays immediate dividends.
After all, Knecht was lauded as one of the most NBA-ready prospects of his class, and he tore up the collegiate opposition last year as the main man for Tennessee. He turned heads with his underrated athleticism and ability to shoot every which way — whether off the catch, off the bounce, or on the move. Knecht has to be ready, as the Lakers may have to rely on him from day one due to the offseason they have had that has been defined by inactivity.
In particular, Jovan Buha of The Athletic has Dalton Knecht as a part of the Lakers’ nine-man rotation next season (LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves, D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, Jarred Vanderbilt, Max Christie, Christian Wood) and he could even be a “devastating off-ball weapon” alongside the team’s more established veterans. Knecht, however, will have to improve his defensive work rate and impact so that his floor could be a rotation player as soon as his rookie campaign, Buha added.
While grabbing a future All-Star is one of the best-case scenarios for a player taken out of the lottery, nabbing a rotation piece who could impact winning as early as one’s rookie season is a major win in and of itself. The Lakers know this. They misfired on their 2023 NBA Draft selection, choosing Jalen Hood-Schifino over the likes of Brandin Podziemski, Jaime Jaquez Jr., and Cam Whitmore, but now, they have a chance to redeem themselves with the selection of Knecht.
Will the Lakers give Dalton Knecht a chance in his rookie year?
There are coaches who typically do not prefer to hand minutes out to inexperienced players; they want steady hands and prefer instead to give minutes to veterans, usually those they have already worked with in the past. But new Lakers head coach JJ Redick isn’t exactly stuck in the ways of the old guard. Redick is a tireless student of the game with an open mind regarding the developments in today’s NBA, and he has a strong social media presence and sense as well, so he is not out of touch.
But will Dalton Knecht play well enough to warrant minutes over the likes of Max Christie, Gabe Vincent, or even Cam Reddish and Jalen Hood-Schifino? Knecht’s floor-spacing abilities should endear him to Redick, for sure, but defensively, he pales in comparison to the aforementioned players. Even Hood-Schifino could make a case for minutes if he impresses in camp. He’s only 21 years of age; when Knecht turned 21, he was averaging around eight points per game for Northern Colorado.
The comparisons to Redick are lazy; Redick was a much-better college player than Knecht ever was, with the current Lakers head coach averaging 26.8 points per game for Duke on 42.1 percent shooting from deep on 9.2 attempts per game in his senior year. That was a different era of basketball, and yet Redick was uncorking three-pointers at such an incredible rate — making them at an elite clip as well.
It took Redick three seasons to become an established rotation player, thanks in large part to the logjam the Orlando Magic had at the guard positions at the time. While the Lakers don’t exactly have an embarrassment of riches on the wing, there is a chance that Knecht doesn’t have the immediate impact many seem to think he’ll have.
In fact, Knecht’s main competition for minutes — Christie and Reddish — can all get better still. Christie is fresh off signing a new deal in free agency, and he’s only 21 years old — two years younger than Knecht. He is an athletic livewire who crashes the glass with reckless abandon, and his three-point shot has been improving as well. Meanwhile, Reddish may have been in the league since 2019, but he’s only 25 years old, so there may be room for him to grow still.
All of this needs to be said just to temper everyone’s expectations of Knecht. He is a talented player and a solid shooter, but there is still a lot of work left for him to do to flesh out his game and be a rotation piece for the Lakers for years to come.