LOS ANGELES – After Lakers guard Dalton Knecht tied an NBA rookie record with nine 3-pointers en route to 37 points in a 124-118 win over the Utah Jazz on Tuesday, LeBron James wanted to clarify how Knecht landed in Los Angeles.
It wasn’t so much the Lakers’ superb scouting department that identified the 6-foot-6, 215-pound wing after an All-American senior season at the University of Tennessee as the ideal prospect to select with the 17th pick.
It was all the other teams that let it go.
“They didn’t ‘find’ DK,” said James (26 points, 12 assists). “The other 16 teams screwed it up. Did anyone see it? Shit. They just didn’t screw it up. You don’t ‘find’ an SEC player of the year.”
And the Jazz couldn’t find any effective defense to stop Knecht, who exploded for 21 points in the final 3:29 of the third quarter to double the Lakers’ lead from 11 to 22 heading into the fourth.
Knecht hit four consecutive 3-pointers (the first three coming off assists from D’Angelo Russell) and with each hit, the Crypto.com Arena crowd grew louder and louder.
While seemingly everyone in the building was anticipating his next attempt, Knecht got Utah’s Cody Williams to bite a play and foul him beyond the 3-point line, earning three free throws. He did all three.
To cap the flurry, he hit another 3-pointer, again off a pass from Russell, with 26.3 seconds left in the third, to go 6 for 6 in the quarter.
He finished 12 of 16 from the field, including 9 of 12 from 3, with five rebounds and a steal.
“I’m not worried about Dalton at all in terms of meeting the moment,” said Lakers coach JJ Redick, who made nine 3-pointers in a game only once in 940 career games; Knecht did it in his fourteenth career as a professional. “He’s not afraid… He’s a real weapon for our group beyond the scoreboard. He’s a weapon that gives us energy.”
Knecht, who tied Keyonte George (February 15, 2024), Yogi Ferrell (February 3, 2017) and Rodrigue Beaubois (March 27, 2010) for the most three-pointers in a game by a rookie, imitated a famous Michael’s gesture. Jordan in the 1992 NBA Finals, nine years before he was born, to soak up his success.
“rui [Hachimura] He was talking to me about how I needed to celebrate the three-pointers,” Knecht said. “I didn’t know what to do. So I just shrugged.”
Knecht became the fourth Lakers player in team history to make at least nine three-pointers, joining Russell, James (who did it twice) and Kobe Bryant (who did it four times).
“rui [Hachimura] He was talking to me about how I needed to celebrate the 3-pointers,” Dalton Knecht said. “I didn’t know what to do. So I just shrugged.” Gary A. Vásquez/Imagn Images
The Lakers extended their winning streak to six games and improved to 2-0 in the group stage of the NBA Cup.
“We just urge him to shoot the ball,” Anthony Davis (26 points, 14 rebounds) said of Knecht. “He can do more than just shoot. But he’s very good at shooting basketball. We get mad at him when he doesn’t shoot.”
Since entering the starting lineup three games ago with Hachimura, who is dealing with an ankle injury, Knecht is averaging 26 points on 63.6% shooting from the field and 61.5% shooting from 3-point range.
“I know he’s capable of doing that,” Austin Reaves said. “And honestly, I hope he does it a few more times this year.”
