Former Tennessee standout Dalton Knecht made his NBA regular season debut on Wednesday night, scoring five points, dishing out two assists and grabbing one rebound in 16 minutes of action in the Los Angeles Lakers 110-103 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
It was a solid debut for Knecht as he made two-of-four field goal attempts and one-of-three attempts from three-point range.
But the most entertaining part of Knecht’s first night in the pros was Charles Barkley ripping NBA general managers for letting the reigning SEC Player of the Year fall to the Lakers in the draft.
“First of all, these NBA General Managers don’t have any idea what they’re doing,” Barkley said on TNT’s Inside the NBA. “Letting the Lakers get Dalton Knecht was one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen. That’s a bad boy right there. Dalton Knecht, remember that name y’all.”
The Lakers selected the former Tennessee superstar with the 17th pick in the 2024 NBA Draft earlier this summer. Most draft experts predicted someone to select Knecht in the top 10 of the draft. But Knecht kept falling into the draft, in part due to his age, before the Lakers finally took him off the board.
More From RTI: Recapping Dalton Knecht’s Preseason Performances Before the NBA Season Tips Off
Knecht was a super star in his lone season at Tennessee, averaging 21.7 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. He was even better in SEC play where he averaged 25.5 points per game on 48% shooting from the field and 42% shooting from three-point range.
The 6-foot-6 shooting guard was a scoring superstar, totaling 40 points once, 35-plus points six times, 30-plus points seven times and 25-plus points 13 times during his All-American season.
Barkley is all too familiar with Knecht’s scoring prowess as the Thornton, Colorado native turned in perhaps his best game of the season against Barkley’s Tigers. Knecht totaled 39 points on 10-of-22 shooting including an unbelievable second half in No. 4 Tennessee’s 92-84 win over No. 11 Auburn in Knoxville.
Knecht turned in a stellar preseason with the Lakers to build his hype ahead of his rookie season. The shooting guard averaged 18 points and 4.2 rebounds per game during the preseason.
