Former Tennessee guard Dalton Knecht is one of the 12 players who received an invitation to the 2024 NBA Draft and a spot in the green room, according to a report from ESPN’s Jonathan Givony on Tuesday.
While more invitations are expected to go out in the coming weeks, Knecht’s status as a lottery pick with a good shot at being a Top 10 pick has him in the first wave of invites this week.
As commonly seen in the NFL and NBA Drafts, the green room is a staging location where players and their families await to hear their name called to join commissioner Adam Silver on stage during the televised broadcast.
If Knecht accepts an invite, he will be holding up his jersey alongside the commissioner after hearing his name called. The case of a green room invitee falling to the second round and becoming a trend on social media does happen in a handful of situations. Still, Knecht doesn’t seem to be in that bunch as arguably the top perimeter shooter from the pool.
According to Givony’s report, players will be allowed six other people to sit at their individual tables, which is a decrease of four from the previous year.
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Judging from a barrage of mock drafts over the last few weeks, Knecht seems to be projected between picks seven to eleven of the draft. Knecht recently worked out for Portland, who owns the 7th and 14th picks in the draft, while San Antonio with the eighth pick has also been a common projection with the Spurs having two picks in the top eight.
Givony recently picked Knecht as the player that fills the biggest need for the Spurs, citing that Knecht “should be one of the most NBA-ready rookies in this class, which is attractive for a Spurs team that surely wants to turn the page to playoff contention sooner rather than later.”
The Memphis Grizzlies have also been a common projection to land the former Vol with the 9th overall pick in the draft. The Grizzlies already have a well-built roster and could wind up taking the older, more mature Knecht to add depth into a potential playoff push in 2025.
ESPN’s Jeremy Woo picked Knecht as the best value for the Grizzlies at No. 9 in ESPN’s latest mock draft, highlighting that Memphis “shouldn’t overthink” taking Knecht if he does fall to them in the top ten.
The Utah Jazz at No. 10 and the Chicago Bulls at No. 11 feel like teams that wouldn’t pass up on Knecht’s value outside of the Grizzlies and Portland being back at No. 14 makes it feel like a slide would surely stop with the Trail Blazers’ second pick.
One way or another, though, it looks like we’ll find out with Knecht in the building during the 2024 NBA Draft from Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on June 2 – if the former Vol accepts.
