Dalton Knecht moving on from the Vols to the Lakers

A basketball profession that started in Colorado at Prairie View Excessive Faculty and at Northeastern Junior School close to the Nebraska border will proceed with the famed Los Angeles Lakers.

Dalton Knecht, who just lately grew to become the largest single-season success story in Tennessee males’s basketball historical past, was tabbed by the Lakers with the seventeenth general choice in Wednesday evening’s NBA draft. The 6-foot-6, 212-pounder is the highest-drafted Volunteers participant since Marcus Haislip went thirteenth to the Milwaukee Bucks in 2002.

“It is a dream come true and a once-in-a-lifetime alternative,” Knecht mentioned on the ESPN telecast. “It is only a blessing. That is all I can say. I am puzzled, and I am able to get to work.”

After spending two years in junior faculty, Knecht performed two seasons at Northern Colorado within the Large Sky Convention, averaging 20.2 factors per recreation through the 2022-23 season. He then went to Knoxville and instantly flourished, averaging 21.7 factors a recreation final season on his method to being chosen as Southeastern Convention participant of the yr.

With Knecht main the way in which, the Vols posted a 27-9 report that included the SEC regular-season championship and a run to the NCAA match’s Elite Eight.

“He is the Roy Hobbs of faculty basketball,” ESPN analyst Jay Bilas mentioned, referencing “The Pure” e book and film. “He got here out of nowhere to be a first-team All-American.”

Knecht had been projected by a number of shops as a top-10 choose. One other ESPN analyst, Jonathan Givony, mentioned on the printed that some NBA normal managers have been extra interested by drafting youngsters and their potential upside in comparison with the extra confirmed Knecht, who’s 23 years previous.

The 21.7-point clip positioned Knecht with solely Bernard King (25.8), Ernie Grunfeld (22.3) and Allan Houston (21.9) so far as gamers who averaged greater than 20 factors throughout their time with the Vols. He’s the one Tennessee participant to attain 30 or extra factors in 5 consecutive contests.

Contact David Paschall at [email protected].