(Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
For years, scouts and experts deemed the 2024 NBA Draft class to be one of the weakest in recent history.
There weren’t that many difference-makers or potential franchise-caliber players to choose from.
The Los Angeles Lakers, however, got one of the potential steals of the draft by taking Dalton Knecht, a plug-and-play guy who looked NBA ready after a long career in college.
Unfortunately for him, that wasn’t particularly on display in his Summer League.
Even so, it’s more than evident that he has LeBron James’ full confidence.
When asked about his new rookie teammate, James claimed that Knecht was his favorite college player — besides Bronny — last season, adding that he never thought he would fall to No. 17 (via Yahoo Sports).
LeBron is a big fan of Dalton Knecht pic.twitter.com/4bfbcvgFXJ
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) July 6, 2024
James had already praised Knecht on Twitter during the season.
Knecht finished his first game with the Lakers with 12 points on 3-of-12 shooting and just 1-of-4 from beyond the arc, doing most of his damage late in the game.
There will be some off nights for rookies, particularly for sharpshooters, and it’s never wise or fair to count a player out after a rocky debut, especially in the Summer League, so we shouldn’t read too much into it, at least for now.
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