LOS Angeles Lakers rookie Dalton Knecht put up a dominant effort in the team’s second-to-last preseason game on Thursday night – and he revealed what two of his star teammates told him beforehand.
The 2024 first-round pick shared a message that LeBron James and Anthony Davis said to him before his historic finish in the Lakers’ 128-122 overtime win over the Phoenix Suns.
Los Angeles Lakers rookie Dalton Knecht prepares to shoot a free throw during the team’s preseason win over the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night[/caption]
Knecht scored 20 straight points which occurred not only in the fourth quarter but also in overtime.
The Tennessee Volunteers product also assisted or scored on the Lakers’ final 22 points.
Knecht even drained the game-tying three-pointer with 4.8 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
He finished with 35 points on 10-of-18 shooting including making 8-of-13 of his three-point attempts.
After the game, Knecht opened up on what LeBron and Davis told him before his takeover of the contest.
“Bron and AD said, ‘It’s time,’ so it was just time to take over,” Knecht told reporters, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.
The 23-year-old scored 13 of his 35 points in overtime.
Knecht has made a case to be a fixture in the team’s rotation when the regular season begins.
Lakers first-year head coach JJ Redick could trust Knecht from the get-go.
Redick said that he told NBA icon Reggie Miller before the game that Knecht is “in the top 1 percent of shooters,” McMenamin reported.
Knecht has recorded 13 or more points in four of the Lakers’ five preseason contests.
He has also posted 21 minutes or more in each game.
The Lakers begin their season at home on October 22 against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
They begin the season with three straight home games before starting a five-game road trip.
Lakers fans could see the team’s other rookie, Bronny James, play in the season-opener.
It’s been reported that the Lakers expect to play Bronny with his father LeBron in the first game of the year.
However, Bronny has struggled in the preseason, and appeared in three preseason games thus far, averaging 0.7 points, one rebound, one block and 0.3 assists in 11.9 minutes per contest.
Still, the 39-year-old LeBron and his son Bronny can be the first father-son duo in NBA history.
The pair played alongside each other in a preseason game last weekend.
