There were high hopes for Dalton Knecht heading into the Los Angeles Lakers’ 2024-25 season as the sharpshooting guard was projected to provide some instant scoring despite being a rookie.
Knecht was a highly-touted prospect who somehow fell to the Lakers at No. 17 in the 2024 NBA Draft, so the optimism for him to be a contributor early in his career was warranted. Knecht showed flashes in Summer League and preseason, but that early success didn’t translate into the regular season as he struggled with his jumpshot.
The rookie was missing really quality looks from distance and seemed to lose some confidence, but he finally had his breakout game in the Lakers’ win against the Memphis Grizzlies. Knecht scored a career-high 19 points, with several of them coming in the third quarter when Memphis was leading.
After the game, head coach JJ Redick credited Knecht for helping Los Angeles’ comeback.
“I thought he was the catalyst for our comeback. It wasn’t just AD being in foul trouble and time and score; it was also just the energy. We, for whatever reason, we were having trouble getting stops and had some turnovers, didn’t execute, and we kind of lost our life a little bit and thought those, those back-to-back ones were huge. Got the crowd into it, got our bench into it, gave us it gave us a new life.
“He was fantastic. Not just shooting the ball. We’ve we’ve been challenging him lately to just be tougher, be more in tune with our game plan. Not going to say it was perfect, but
baby steps. I mean, he was great tonight.”
Knecht was able to take advantage of Redick’s play-calling as he sprung free from some crucial 3-pointers that allowed the Lakers to chip away at the deficit. Overall, Knecht was 7-of-8 from the field including a perfect 5-of-5 from three.
It’s just one game, but it’s a massive momentum builder for Knecht who had been struggling shooting the basketball. The bench has been inconsistent offensively and needs someone outside of someone like D’Angelo Russell who can heat up in a hurry.
With this performance under his belt, Knecht may have earned minutes as fellow bench players like Gabe Vincent continue to hurt the offense. Unlike Knecht, Vincent put up a clunker as he missed all six of his 3-point attempts and later got pulled in favor of the rookie.
Los Angeles won’t be able to count on Knecht hitting all of his 3-point attempts, but there’s some relief knowing that he’s capable of lifting an offense in spurts. Hopefully Knecht can keep the hot shooting going when the Lakers head back on the road and kick off their NBA Cup title defense against the San Antonio Spurs.
JJ Redick and D’Angelo Russell remain confident in Dalton Knecht
With the season still in the early stages, there is little reason to doubt Dalton Knecht would struggle for much longer. JJ Redick and D’Angelo Russell recently discussed Knecht and expressed their confidence in him to get going for the Lakers, which he promptly did against the Grizzlies.
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