Former Tennessee Vol and reigning SEC Player of the Year Dalton Knecht made his NBA Summer League debut this month with action in the NBA California Classic and the NBA 2K Summer League during the month of July.
Knecht was projected as one of the top collegiate players during the 2024 NBA Draft but surprisingly slid out of the lottery picks on draft night. One man’s slide is another team’s steal, though, as the Los Angeles Lakers were quick to scoop up the mature scoring wing with the 17th overall pick.
Los Angeles then selected Bronny James, son of NBA superstar LeBron James, in the second round to complete their two-man draft class.
While James has plenty of inevitable buzz around his name because of his father, Lakers fans were really tuned in to see what their first-round draft pick could potentially give them during his rookie season. While the former Vol struggled to find consistent scoring over his first few contests, Knecht reigned things in and began producing at a high level later in the schedule.
Knecht played in six summer league games for the Lakers in July and averaged 18 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 2.2 assists during those contests. Knecht also averaged 35.7 percent shooting from the floor and 32.6 percent shooting from three-point range.
Knecht hit the 20-point scoring mark in three of his six summer league games with a fourth landing just under at 19 points. The former Vol’s best game of the summer league circuit came in the NBA 2K Summer League opener against Houston when he recorded 25 points, six rebounds, and four assists in just 30 minutes on the court. Knecht also tallied a summer-high 50 percent shooting from the floor and 45.5 percent shooting from three-range in that game.
The Lakers’ staff kept Knecht out of two of the summer league games against Atlanta and Chicago.
“I thought he performed really well,” Tennessee assistant Rod Clark said of Knecht’s summer league slate. “I think sometimes when people watch Summer League, they want guys to score 40, just completely dominate every single game. Where with him he had some games where he was extremely dominant and he showed his shot making ability and his ability to make plays defensively and make guys better. I think that the thing that I’m most proud of watching him in the summer league is him showing his ability to facilitate, pass the ball. He’s done that at a high level where here you saw it in spurts, but I mean a guy was averaging 25 in league play so it was kind of a little dude’s job to kind of pass everybody right. But he’s able to show that and show different parts of his game. (Lakers coach) JJ Reddick has talked to coach a few times and he’s been super complimentary of Dalton. Loves him.”
When only looking at Knecht’s games in the league-wide NBA 2K Summer League, the former Vol finished as the highest-scoring rookie in summer ball at 21.3 points per game according to ClutchPoints.
Summer League rookie Points Per Game leaders 👀
🔹Dalton Knecht — 21.3 PPG
🔹Reed Sheppard — 20.0 PPG
🔹Ron Holland — 18.8 PPG
🔹Kel’el Ware — 18.0 PPG
🔹Tristan Da Silva — 17.7 PPG pic.twitter.com/oh8WErUzJ3— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) July 24, 2024
| Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | FG% | 3FG% | |
| California Classic | ||||||
| LAL vs Kings | 26m 13s | 12 | 2 | 4 | 25% | 25% |
| LAL vs Warriors | 22m | 12 | 2 | 1 | 23.1% | 33.3% |
| LAL vs Heat | 31m 20s | 20 | 9 | 1 | 38.9% | 25% |
| NBA 2K Summer League | ||||||
| LAL vs Rockets | 30m 2s | 25 | 6 | 4 | 50% | 45.5% |
| LAL vs Celtics | 34m 42s | 19 | 3 | 2 | 33.3% | 33.3% |
| LAL vs Hawks | DNP | |||||
| LAL vs Cavaliers | 28m 50s | 20 | 7 | 1 | 43.8% | 33.3% |
| LAL vs Bulls | DNP | |||||
| Average | 28m 51s | 18 | 4.8 | 2.2 | 35.7% | 32.6% |
More from RTI: Former Tennessee Guard Santiago Vescovi Signs Professional Contract Overseas
The numbers tell one side of the story and so do the highlights.
Here’s a look at some of Knecht’s biggest plays from his rookie stretch in the NBA Summer League:
Third 20+ point game for Dalton 💪 pic.twitter.com/TgihQfRhh6
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) July 19, 2024
GET UP THEN, DALTON pic.twitter.com/plNNbWlQbr
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) July 19, 2024
14 first half points for DK 😎 pic.twitter.com/w7jZEozBZW
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) July 10, 2024
Dalton coming throughhh 💪 pic.twitter.com/JXQYN6LAl4
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) July 10, 2024
all three levels
team-high 19 pts for DK last night
pic.twitter.com/CpcFdrrp6M— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) July 16, 2024
