LOS ANGELES — As the Los Angeles Lakers bench and the Crypto.com Arena crowd stood in anticipation, everyone in the building knew where the ball was going.
Dalton Knecht had made three straight 3-pointers. The crowd was buzzing. His teammates were bouncing and waving their arms.
Knecht was going to take the next shot. It was just a matter of how the rookie was going to get open.
After a failed screen attempt to get Knecht the ball, Jazz rookie Cody Williams inexplicably helped off of him. Knecht caught a pass from D’Angelo Russell and considered rising but didn’t like the look. He dribbled backward to gain momentum, dribbled forward and launched his fourth 3-point attempt in less than two minutes.
As the ball caromed in, and the arena erupted to the loudest volume it’s been this season, Knecht turned toward the sideline as he ran backward and shrugged, mimicking Michael Jordan’s celebration from the 1992 NBA Finals.
KNECHT HITS THE MJ SHRUG AFTER HIS 7TH TRIPLE 🔥🤷♂️ pic.twitter.com/CK7IOCyQVf
— NBA TV (@NBATV) November 20, 2024
“Rui (Hachimura) was talking to me about I need to get a 3-point celebration,” Knecht said. “I didn’t know what to do. So I just gave ‘The Shrug.’”
It was that kind of night for the 23-year-old rookie in the Lakers’ 124-118 win over the Jazz on Tuesday. With the victory, the Lakers improved to 10-4 this season and 2-0 in NBA Cup group play (and 9-0 all-time in the tournament). Los Angeles has won six straight games.
Knecht set new career highs with 37 points and nine 3-pointers made. He finished 12-of-16 from the field (9-of-12 from 3) in a season-high 38 minutes. He did a lot of his damage in the third quarter, exploding for 21 points (6-of-6 3-point shooting), including 18 in the final 3:29. His 21 points are the most in a quarter by a rookie this season and the fourth-most by any player.
His nine 3-pointers tied the NBA rookie record for most 3s in a game and set the new Lakers rookie record. Only three other Lakers players have made at least nine 3s, including Kobe Bryant (four times), LeBron James (twice) and Russell (once).
“I just got in a groove,” Knecht said. “My teammates found me. And they were looking for me every time we got on offense. And then (coach) JJ (Redick) was calling plays for me. So they made it real easy for me. I just had to get open and get the shot up.”
Knecht has been heating up for a week, beginning with last Wednesday’s win over the Grizzlies when he scored 19 points. He has set his new career-high point totals in three of the past four games (19 points, 27 and now 37), cementing his status as the team’s best shooter and establishing himself as a critical part of the offense.
“We just urge him to shoot the basketball,” Anthony Davis said. “He can do more than just shoot. But he’s really good at shooting the basketball. We get mad at him when he don’t shoot.”
Over the past four games, Knecht is averaging 24.3 points (tied for second on the team with James) while shooting 67.3 percent overall and 67.7 percent on 3-pointers. He’s making 5.3 3s per game, a figure that would lead the league. The Lakers have outscored opponents by 37 points in his 133 minutes, a team-best mark.
The Lakers have been looking for this type of deadeye movement shooter around James and Davis for years — and appear to have finally found him. Redick joked that every time he’s in a timeout, his instinct is to draw up an after-timeout play for Knecht.
Redick has compared Knecht to a goldfish in that he never remembers the result of his last shot. Knecht expressed a similar sentiment when asked about when he knew Tuesday was going to be a special night for him.
“The first shot,” Knecht said. “Every time I see one go in, I think the next one is always going in. Even if I miss it, I always have the confidence that my next shot is going in.”
James, who praised Knecht last season after a Lakers win in Washington, doubled down on his assertion that the No. 17 pick is a special shooter and scorer.
“I did not think he was going to fall to us,” James said. “I thought it would be impossible. I have no idea how that happened. But I’m very grateful and I’m very happy that he’s here. I knew exactly what we were getting when he fell to 17.”
James added that he thinks Knecht slipping to the Lakers is more of a reflection of how badly the other 16 teams messed up than anything.
“They didn’t ‘find’ DK,” James said of the Lakers’ scouting department. “The other 16 teams f—ed it up. Did anybody watch him? S—. They just didn’t f— it up. You don’t ‘find’ a SEC player of the year.”
This level of production from Knecht is unlikely to last once Hachimura, who is out with an ankle injury, returns. Knecht has benefited from starting in Hachimura’s place the past three games, as well as from an easier stretch of schedule. His shooting numbers aren’t sustainable. Defenses will surely scout him harder and make adjustments.
At the same time, it’s difficult to discern how much of this is flukey. Knecht — a first-team All-American last season at Tennessee — was billed as one of the best shooters and scorers in the 2024 NBA Draft, and he’s lived up to his reputation. There aren’t many players in the league who could’ve made the shots he was making in that manner. He’s made the most of the recent opportunity and has earned more minutes and shots moving forward, Redick said.
“It’s really just having his spacing, his threat,” Redick said. “He’s got some off-the-bounce stuff that you can do, but I mentioned before the game, he’s an excellent cutter. He’s been great with his offensive rebound crashing. So it’s more about him just earning more minutes and more trust, not just with the coaches, but with his teammates. That’s important.”
Regardless of whether he continues to start or moves back to the bench once Hachimura returns, Knecht has shown over the past week that he’s a special kind of shooter who can heat up at any moment and swing a quarter, a half or even a game. Given all of the interior attention James and Davis command, that type of complementary skill set is invaluable.
“I know he’s capable of doing that,” Austin Reaves said. “And honestly, I expect him to do it multiple more times this year.”
(Photo: Harry How / Getty Images)
