Los Angeles Lakers guard Dalton Knecht continued his strong rookie season in Tuesday's 124-118 win against the Utah Jazz. Following Tuesday's 37-point explosion, Lakers star LeBron James stated that he knew that Knecht was going to be a star player before the team even drafted him.
"I don't know. The same shit I said last year," James said. "Everybody on the internet calls me a liar all the time. They say I lie about every f---ing thing. So what am I now? I've been said it. I watched him, I watched Tennessee a lot.
"I did not think he was going to fall to us. I thought it would be impossible. I have no idea how that happened but very grateful and very happy that he's here. I knew exactly what we was getting when he fell to 17."
James did put into the universe that he was a fan of Knecht's game even when he was still playing at Tennessee last season. Clearly, the Lakers star was right about what Knecht would be bringing to the table as the rookie guard scored a career-high 37 points on 12-of-16 shooting to along with five rebounds on Tuesday. Knecht's nine 3-pointers tied the NBA single-game rookie record.
James also threw some shade at the rest of the league for missing out on Knecht.
"They didn't find DK. The other 16 teams f---ed it up," James said. "Did anybody watch him? What the f---? Shit. They just didn't f--- it up."
Knecht was one of the more highly-touted prospects to enter the 2024 NBA Draft after being named the SEC Player of the Year. Still, Knecht ended up falling to the Lakers with the No. 17 pick, and Los Angeles was able to scoop him up.
The 2024-25 NBA season is barely a month old, so obviously it's too early to call Knecht a superstar. Still, the early returns have been great on Knecht, and he certainly could be a key piece of the Lakers' rotation for years to come.
