Dalton Knecht had to wait a lot longer Wednesday night at the Barclays Center than many expected.
While that left many confused, the Los Angeles Lakers took full advantage and landed one of the best picks from a value standpoint in the entire first round of the NBA Draft.
The Lakers selected Knecht with the 17th overall pick in the NBA Draft on Wednesday night in one of the biggest surprises of the first round. Many thought the Tennessee star would be a top-10 pick after his SEC run last season. Krysten Peek of Yahoo Sports even ranked him No. 6 overall in her final mock draft that same day.
However, as the draws came and went, Knecht kept waiting to hear his name called. Even the ESPN desk on site was confused by the slide, which seemed to be due to an age issue. At 23 years old, Knecht is simply older than many others in this draft class. He was the oldest player selected at the time, and only two others (former Purdue star Zach Edey, who went No. 9 overall to Memphis, and Providence’s Devin Carter, who went No. 13 overall to Memphis) general in Sacramento) were over 20 years old.
But based on his career so far, it’s nothing new and won’t be a problem for him. Knecht did not receive a single Division I scholarship offer after high school, and he started at one college before transferring to Northern Colorado. He then made the jump to Tennessee for his senior season, which is where his career really took off.
Knecht averaged 21.7 points and 4.9 rebounds per game for the Volunteers last season while leading them to the Elite Eight, which was the program’s deepest NCAA Tournament since 2010. He was one of the nation’s top scorers and shot just below 40%. from behind the arc, and was named SEC Player of the Year and first-team All-American. While he may not be a generational talent to build an entire franchise, Knecht is an experienced point guard who can jump to an NBA team with valuable minutes right away.
Knecht will now be able to team up with LeBron James and play for first-year head coach JJ Redick in Los Angeles. As far as starting spots in the league go, he should fit in very well in Los Angeles right away. For all parties involved, the choice was surely worth it.