A majority of fans and experts seem to like the Los Angeles Lakers’ first-round pick at the 2024 NBA Draft. The Lakers used their No. 17 pick to select Dalton Knecht, who had an incredible 2023-24 college basketball season with the Tennessee Volunteers.
Knecht’s star shone brighter and his NBA Draft stock got a boost when he had an impressive run in the last March Madness with the Volunteers. It can be recalled that he averaged 26.0 points in the NCAA tournament, and in what turned out to be his final game in college, he dropped 37 points against Zach Edey and the Purdue Boilermakers in the Elite Eight portion of the Big Dance. He was so good in that contest that he even caught the attention of Lakers superstar forward LeBron James at the time.
Los Angeles Lakers first-round pick gets real about praise from LeBron James
Here’s what Knecht said about the four-time NBA Most Valuable Player’s praise (h/t Mike Trudell of Spectrum SportsNet):
“I remember that clip, I woke up, rolled out of bed and thought that was fake because tons of people were texting me. I was like, ‘There’s no way.’ When I watched that video, it just brought a smile to my face, and also my parents. They called me right away and told me about it. That’s just going to be special, and it’s going to be fun just to be sharing the court with both of them, AD and ‘Bron, ‘Bron one of the greatest, so it’s going to be real special.”
Just a few months after Knecht impressed the future Basketball Hall of Famer, the two are going to play side by side with the Lakers.
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