Los Angeles Lakers wing Dalton Knecht is among the more popular members of the 2024 NBA Draft class. This is largely due to the franchise that he plays for, where even an end-of-bench player’s star power can be Hollywood. However, it’s also just because Knecht truly has been playing pretty well, especially for a rookie.
Lakers Rookie Dalton Knecht Finds Peace After Failed Trade
Knecht has averaged 9.2 points per game, converting 36.3 percent of his 3s. His scoring average and 3-point percentage rank seventh and 11th, respectively, among all rookies. He’s contributed 2.3 win shares, sixth among all rookies. He also scores 1.25 points per possession in transition, which places him in the 75th percentile of all players, regardless of experience level.
Knecht may not get the ball as much as he did when he was in college. After all, he’s now teammates with LeBron James and Luka Doncic. Nevertheless, he’s exactly the type of player his scouting report said he is.
He also tends to step up when his minutes increase. To that point, Knecht is averaging 14.7 points per game and shooting 38.7 percent from beyond the arc. When he plays at least 30 minutes, the Fargo native is averaging 20.3 points per game and shooting 50.0 percent from 3.
It’s a good thing that after the Lakers trade for Mark Williams was voided, leading Knecht back to Los Angeles, Markieff Morris was there to help him keep his head in the game.
“Be ready. No matter what, be you,” the 35-year-old told Knecht, per Los Angeles Times reporter Dan Woike. “When you get the ball, just go be you. And play like how you play, confidently, how you played at Tennessee.”
“…At the end of the day, just be you. Be ready to shoot. Stay confident,” he would add. “If they wanted the trade, like who gives a ****? Go out there and stay confident.”
It Only Made Him Stronger
There have been some concerns about Knecht since his return, some wondering whether he was checked out mentally or emotionally. He hadn’t seemed quite as engaged as he was before he was told he’d be traded to the Charlotte Hornets.
On the one hand, everybody knows that the NBA is a business. Him being included in a deal that was made to appease their new superstar is just how the cookie crumbled. Yet, when players first experience the business side of basketball –at least in a negative way –it can throw them for a loop.
Woike would say the 23-year-old “no longer felt wanted.”
“It was hard,” Knecht admits, per ESPN reporter Dave McMenamin. “I got drafted here, so L.A. means a lot.”
For now, Knecht remains with the Lakers. The Hornets haven’t officially appealed the rescinded trade. Furthermore, it’s been more than a month since the trade deadline. If there’s any way that Charlotte can reverse the deal, it may not happen until the offseason.
However, Los Angeles could still look to upgrade their center position this summer. If so, Knecht will be an obvious trade candidate. Fortunately for Knecht, his skin is a bit tougher now.
“I’m just doing what I love to do, going out there and playing,” he says. “Whatever happens, happens. I’m just going to compete hard wherever I go, and hopefully it’s L.A. Whatever happens, I’m just going to go out there and compete.”
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