Dalton Knecht played a career game for the Lakers in the comeback win against Memphis

by Junna Base November 14, 2024

Dalton Knecht left his feet too early.

The Los Angeles Lakers guard went to Rui Hachimura, landed and collected himself. The former Tennessee basketball superstar got the ball back and left his feet again.

Knecht hit the three-pointer in the third quarter. Then he scored again and stormed toward a career-high 19 points in the Lakers’ 128-123 comeback win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday in Los Angeles.

“We leaned on Dalton Knecht,” Lakers star LeBron James said on ESPN. “That’s what we did.” (Anthony Davis) got into foul trouble and our first-round pick hit a hot streak. He looked like he was back in Tennessee. We relied on him and I just tried to throw in a few plays here and there.”

Knecht, who had a legendary run at Tennessee last season, was 5-5 on 3-pointers and 7-8 shooting in 31 minutes. He had career highs in 3-pointers, field goals and minutes.

Dalton Knecht scored a career-high 19 points for Lakers vs. Grizzlies

Knecht averaged 6.1 points in 16.9 minutes per game entering Wednesday. He got rolling early against the Grizzlies. He made a 3-pointer in the first quarter.

The No. 17 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft scored again in the second and then hit a baseline jumper to surpass his season average. In the third quarter, he made another jump at midfield before launching a flurry of three-pointers to fuel the comeback.

How Dalton Knecht sparked the Lakers’ comeback against Memphis

Knecht had 10 points late in the third quarter as James sat on the bench next to Davis, the former on a fast break and the latter in foul trouble.

Thanks to Hachimura’s help, Knecht promptly hit the 3-pointer and brought the Lakers within 92-86. He dribbled right into the next pass, cutting Memphis’ lead to 92-89. The Lakers cut the lead to five before James, who posted a triple-double, came back early in the fourth quarter.

The UT product hit another 3-pointer early in the fourth against Memphis’ Santi Aldama. He then came into transition and threw a lob to Christian Koloko, who provided a game-winning dunk.

When Davis returned, the Lakers were leading by one, and Knecht was a big reason.

Dalton Knecht was the Lakers’ first-round pick in Tennessee basketball

Knecht was named SEC Player of the Year and was a first-team All-American in his only season at Tennessee. After transferring from Northern Colorado, he averaged 21.7 points while averaging 25.5 points in SEC play.

Knecht had 13 25-point games, eight 30-point games, six 35-point games and one 40-point game. A Tennessee player had scored 35 or more 50 goals in history before Knecht. The Thornton, Colorado native finished with 780 points, the second-most single-season points total of all time.

Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @ByMikeWilson. If you like Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription to access everything.

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