Dalton Douglas Knecht ( ; born April 19, 2001) is an American professional basketball player for the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Northeastern JC Plainsmen, the Northern Colorado Bears, and the Tennessee Volunteers.

Early life and high school career

Knecht is the son of Corey and Carrie Knecht. Knecht was born in

Fargo, North Dakota Fargo ( /ˈfɑɹɡoʊ/) is a city in and the county seat of Cass County, North Dakota, United States. According to the 2020 census, its population was 125,990, making it the most populous city in the state and the 219th-most populous city in ...

and grew up in Thornton, Colorado, attending Prairie View High School. He entered his sophomore year at and grew to by his junior year. Knecht averaged 21 points and 6.5 rebounds per game as a senior.

College career

Knecht began his college basketball career at Northeastern Junior College in

Sterling, Colorado Sterling is a home rule municipality and the county seat and most populous municipality of Logan County, Colorado, United States. Sterling is the principal city of the Sterling, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area. The city population was 13,753 a ...

. He grew another two inches between his senior high school season and his first season with the Plainsmen. Knecht averaged 13.3 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game as a freshman. He averaged 23.9 points, 7.5 rebounds and two assists per game as a sophomore. Knecht grew another three inches during his time playing at Northeastern Junior College to bring his height to . He committed to transfer to Northern Colorado to continue his college career. Knecht averaged 8.9 points and 3.6 rebounds per game in his first season with the Northern Colorado Bears. As a senior, he led the Big Sky Conference with 20.2 points per game and averaged 7.2 rebounds per game. After the season, Knecht decided to utilize the extra year of eligibility granted to college athletes who played in the 2020–21 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic and entered the NCAA transfer portal. Knecht transferred to Tennessee for the 2023–24 season. He was named the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Player of the Week for the first week of the season after scoring 17 points in the Volunteers' season-opening win over Tennessee Tech and 24 points with five rebounds in a 80–70 road victory over Wisconsin on November 10, 2023. Knecht scored a then-career-high 37 points in a 100–92 loss to North Carolina on November 29, 2023. He was named the SEC Player of the Week a second time on January 15, 2024, after scoring 28 points in a 77–72 loss to Mississippi State and 36 points in an 85–79 win over Georgia. Knecht set a then career high with 39 points in a 85–66 win over Florida on January 16, 2024. On February 29, 2024, Knecht tied his then-career high with 39 points against the 11th-ranked

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

in a 92–84 win. On March 9, 2024, Knecht set a new career high on senior night with 40 points in an 85–81 loss to 15th-ranked Kentucky. Knecht was named

SEC Player of the Year Southeastern Conference Player of the Year refers to the most outstanding player for the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in a given sport for a given season. For lists of individual sport SEC Players of the Year by year: *Southeastern Conference Bas ...

by both the league's coaches and the Associated Press (AP). He was also named SEC Newcomer of the Year by the AP.

Professional career

Los Angeles Lakers (2024–present)

Knecht was selected with the 17th overall pick by the

in the

2024 NBA draft 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

and he signed with them on July 3, 2024.

Career statistics

College

NCAA Division I

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;", Northern Colorado , 35 , , 11 , , 24.1 , , .436 , , .361 , , .753 , , 3.6 , , .9 , , .5 , , .5 , , 8.9 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, style="text-align:left;", Northern Colorado , 32 , , 32 , , 35.3 , , .479 , , .381 , , .771 , , 7.2 , , 1.8 , , .8 , , .6 , , 20.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2023–24 , style="text-align:left;", Tennessee , 36 , , 36 , , 30.6 , , .458 , , .397 , , .772 , , 4.9 , , 1.8 , , .7 , , .6 , , 21.7 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 103 , , 79 , , 29.8 , , .461 , , .383 , , .768 , , 5.2 , , 1.5 , , .7 , , .6 , , 16.9

JUCO

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;", Northeastern JC , 31 , , 14 , , — , , .504 , , .451 , , .786 , , 2.9 , , 1.1 , , .5 , , .3 , , 13.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2020–21 , style="text-align:left;", Northeastern JC , 20 , , 20 , , — , , .512 , , .395 , , .818 , , 7.5 , , 2.0 , , .7 , , .5 , , 23.9 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 51 , , 34 , , — , , .508 , , .432 , , .807 , , 4.7 , , 1.5 , , .6 , , .3 , , 17.5

Footnotes

References

External links

Tennessee Volunteers bioNorthern Colorado Bears bioNortheastern Plainsmen bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Knecht, Dalton 2001 births Living people All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Colorado Basketball players from North Dakota Junior college men's basketball players in the United States Los Angeles Lakers draft picks Northern Colorado Bears men's basketball players People from Thornton, Colorado Shooting guards Small forwards Sportspeople from Fargo, North Dakota Sportspeople from the Denver metropolitan area Tennessee Volunteers basketball players 21st-century American sportsmen