Did the Los Angeles Lakers come away with the biggest steal of the 2024 NBA Draft?

The Los Angeles Lakers entered the first round of the 2024 NBA Draft with the 17^th overall pick. Sitting just outside the lottery, the team likely hoped that they would get a decent developmental piece that could contribute down the line. Instead, they ended up with University of Tennessee star Dalton Knecht, who might be able to help immediately.

Outlets like The Ringer, NBA Draft Net, CBS Sports and many others predicted that Dalton Knecht would be selected sometime in the lottery. Many media members thought that Knecht would go in the top 10, further cementing his stock as one of the more impressive players in the draft.

However, Knecht’s name wasn’t called by the Oklahoma City Thunder at 12, which many thought was his floor. After this took place, the possibility that the Tennessee scorer could drop started to become very real.

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Sporting News believes that Knecht fell to the 17^th pick because of his defensive liabilities. They think that he doesn’t have great lateral quickness and gets stuck on screens too frequently.

However, which Knecht may not have as a defender, he could make up for in spades as a scorer and shooter. As sourced from Sports Reference, Knecht averaged over 21 points a game as a senior, on nearly 40% shooting from three-point range. He was also a decent rebounder, grabbing nearly five boards per game as a senior.

Knecht enters the league in an era that prioritizes pace and space, which is a format of basketball that he should have no trouble fitting in with offensively. He also showed an ability to get to the basket when his defender closed out aggressively, which will help him showcase a well-rounded skill set in the NBA.

The Lakers were top 10 in the NBA in three point percentage in 2023-2024, but took the third-fewest attempts from downtown. Whether it was due to a lack of faith in players taking threes, or a strategic attempt to get to the rim could be debated, but spacing for the likes of LeBron James to get to the basket should only benefit the Lakers. Knecht can definitely help there.

Sports Illustrated wrote that Knecht would make an instant impact in the NBA given his experience and skill set. It remains to be seen whether he’ll be part of the Lakers’ initial rotation, but should see a handful of minutes from the get-go. He could earn more minutes if his defense improves.

The Los Angeles Lakers hired J.J. Redick as their head coach a few days before the draft, and there might not be a better person Knecht can learn from. Coming into the NBA as a player, Redick had a lot of the same questions asked about his defensive capability, and whether he could withstand the physicality at the professional level.

To that end, Redick may also be motivated to install plays that get Knecht moving on the offensive end. The former Tennessee star may be running off screens that tire out defenders, which will only benefit Los Angeles’ ability to open things up on the other side of the floor.

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