Los Angeles Lakers players Austin Reaves and Dalton Knecht were familiar with one another before the latter was even drafted by the organization in the first round of the 2024 NBA Draft.
Back in December of 2023, when Knecht was amid a shooting slump while playing college basketball at the University of Tennessee, Reaves shot him a direct message and gave him some words of encouragement. It certainly wasn’t the only time they communicated (and it’s unclear if it was the first), but this particular message is still something Knecht thinks about.
“DK, what’s good my man?” Reaves messaged Knecht. “Just wanted to reach out and say what’s up? … Make sure we stay tapped in man. I’ll be watching, and if you ever need anything let me know. I’m around.”
Reaves recently provided some information on the origin of his relationship with Knecht.
“I just randomly one day saw him going crazy doing what he did in college and obviously I was very impressed with the way he scores the ball,” Reaves said. “The way he willed his Tennessee team to a lot of wins was special and I like to show my respects when I really like guys that have a lot of talent, and he’s one of those guys. I would text him after games that I saw and congratulate him on the accolades that he was putting up. That’s really it.”
Knecht had maybe the best performance of any first-year player in the NBA so far this season in the Lakers’ NBA Cup victory over the Utah Jazz on Tuesday night. He scored 37 points, the most by any rookie in a single game since the start of the 2024-25 regular season, while shooting 12-of-16 from the field and 9-of-12 from 3-point range.
The 23-year-old’s showing against the Jazz marked his second consecutive standout scoring performance. Against the injury-riddled New Orleans Pelicans a few days earlier, he finished with 27 points and buried five 3s.
Knecht has been perhaps the Lakers’ most reliable 3-point shooter to this point when factoring in the impressive combination of efficiency and volume with which he’s scoring the ball from deep. He’s shooting a blistering 46.4 percent from 3 on 4.9 attempts per contest.
The Lakers’ decision to draft Knecht with the No. 17 overall pick back in June has aged like fine wine after the former Tennessee standout got off to a rocky start to his maiden season in the NBA. Knecht has reached double digits in points in four of the last five games he’s played in for Los Angeles.
He will attempt to fill up the scoring column for the Lakers once again when the team plays the Orlando Magic at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday night. Los Angeles can extend its current winning streak to seven games with a victory over the Magic, who are also riding a six-game winning streak at the moment.
