Dalton Knecht, the Lakers’ rookie guard, clutched the sport ball inside his locker after he dominated the ultimate minutes of the Lakers’ additional time win Thursday in Phoenix, a proud second for somebody who isn’t a stranger to dominating a recreation.
“This felt similar to Auburn,” he mentioned with a smile, remembering the sport final season the place he scored 39 factors in a win over Tennessee’s SEC rival.
The variations, although, weren’t truly that refined.
That recreation in Auburn? It didn’t include LeBron James and Anthony Davis fanning Knecht on the sidelines after he metaphorically caught hearth. It didn’t occur with one of many NBA’s finest shooters ever, Reggie Miller, on the printed. It didn’t occur with Knecht’s all-time favourite participant, Kevin Durant, on the opposite sideline encouraging him to maintain going.
It didn’t occur, preseason or not, as a Los Angeles Laker.
As he walked onto the courtroom for additional time after taking pictures the Lakers again into the sport, Durant discovered Knecht on the courtroom and gave him a message that could be much more priceless than the sport ball.
Learn extra: Lakers beat Suns behind rookie Dalton Knecht’s finest preseason recreation but
“Go take over the sport,” he advised the rookie.
His future Corridor of Fame teammates had simply given him the identical recommendation.
“Bron and AD mentioned, ‘It’s time.’ So it was simply time to take over,” Knecht mentioned.
It validated the early reward heaped on Knecht, who appears like he’s going to undoubtedly be part of the workforce’s rotation out of coaching camp.
“Reggie [Miller] and I had been speaking about it earlier than the sport and he was like, ‘It is excessive reward to say he is within the 1 % of shooters.’ And I am like, ‘Yeah, he is within the 1 % of shooters,” Lakers coach JJ Redick mentioned. “The factor about him is simply the mentality. It has been very apparent in pickup earlier than the season. In coaching camp, so far in video games, he is received no worry. He is not afraid of the second.
“That was a present that he placed on.”
The present — 35 factors, together with a stretch the place he scored 20 in a row late within the fourth quarter and into additional time — definitely makes it look like the Lakers received a steal within the draft. Knecht fell to the workforce at No. 17 because of issues about his age and defensive limitations, league executives say.
And the questions on Knecht’s protection, coaches and teammates say, aren’t going to be inconceivable to beat because of his coachability and want for enchancment.
“The best way that he shoots the ball and the best way that he listens, such as you say, ‘Dalton do that,’ he will do it. Like no ifs, ands, buts, Austin Reaves mentioned. “No, ‘I believed it was this, I believed it was that.’ Such as you say, ‘be low man (on protection), go vertical.’ That is what he will do. So having that trait as effectively is sweet and having the ability to, like I mentioned, shoot the ball the best way that he does, it’ll be arduous for him to not be on the ground at occasions. Clearly, , defensively, he is working his ass off each single day to get higher. He is asking questions, and that is all you’ll be able to ask from a rookie.”
The Lakers have taken a protracted take a look at Knecht this fall. He’s main the Lakers in minutes and is averaging 10 three-point makes an attempt per recreation. Earlier than Thursday, he was taking pictures simply 27%. He missed a possible tying three earlier within the preseason towards the Suns.
“Simply these moments that you just dream of as a child, and you’ll inform that he desires these moments. He desires to, the shot that he missed in, I feel it was Palm Springs, proper? To tie it. You could possibly see within the locker room, like how a lot, , that shot meant to him,” Reavers mentioned. “He was pissed. You could possibly inform by the best way he was taking a look at him like he was he wasn’t proud of himself. And that is a that is an excellent trait to have.”
The Lakers and Redick already appeared dedicated to him earlier than he confirmed the form of scoring prowess that made him one of many large tales of faculty basketball final season.
“He is simply received, he is received a psychological toughness about him,” Redick mentioned. “And whether or not it is the offensive rebounding, the competitiveness on protection. He is attempting. He is received some issues he is received to study and get higher at, however he is attempting. And actually, that is half the battle typically.”
And Thursday, he received his first actual second as a professional — whereas Durant, James, Davis and others watching.
“For him to go on the market and placed on a efficiency like that in that second half was unreal to look at. It was … I nearly hit a hole-in-one the opposite day. I hit it off the pin and like that pleasure that I had then, like I had it for that entire fourth quarter,” Reaves mentioned. “So it is lovely. You see how a lot work that he places in each single day. He is searching individuals down proper after follow to shoot. So that you tip your hat to a man like that. And, , I anticipated all these photographs to go in, to be sincere.”
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This story initially appeared in Los Angeles Occasions.
