Knecht Four: Lakers Rookie Dalton Knecht Talks About His Rise From Junior College, to Tennessee to the League
A little over 24 hours before being drafted 17th overall by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2024 NBA Draft, Dalton Knecht was in our office getting up shots on the mini hoop.
While the SEC’s scoring average leader from last season made his way around to the 10 designated shooting spots we’ve laid out across the floor, we realized that the final sticker got swept up in the hustle of the day. So instead, we gave him the option to shoot from anywhere on the floor. He could go back to the faux free-throw line, try another from the couch or hit a simple layup. Instead, with a pure shooter’s mentality, Knecht took several steps back into the hallway, putting at least 25 feet of distance between himself and the hoop that’s bolted to the opposing cement wall and netted the shot.
“I felt that confidence arise from the moment I touched a basketball,” Knecht says. “My parents have always made me super confident, always told me [to] trust your hard work. I always felt like that. So no matter what, when I step on that court, I’m gonna be the most confident player on that court.
Knecht is a gym rat, whether that’s on a regulation-sized hoop or not. He’s drawn to the hardwood and its sights and sounds; the screeching of herringbone traction patterned outsoles, the smell of repolished floors and the sound of the leather ball falling through aged nets. It’s an obsession that he’s fostered meticulously over the past five years while on a journey exclusive to him and him alone.
https://www.slamonline.com/the-magazine/251/dalton-knecht-251/
= new reply since forum marked as read
