'DK is just a special player': Dalton Knecht scores 37, ties NBA rookie record with nine 3-pointers

A Los Angeles Lakers scout recently reached out to Tennessee assistant coach Gregg Polinksy. Rookie Dalton Knecht was struggling and the scout wanted to know if there should be reason for concern. 

“And my comment,” Polinksy said Tuesday morning, “was I’m not there with you guys, but I wouldn’t worry about it.”

There was a three-game stretch earlier this month when Knecht combined to shoot 4-for-19 from the field and 2-for-14 from the 3-point line against.

But Polinsky, who spent 22 years in the NBA as a scout, director of scouting and director of player personnel, watched Knecht star at Tennessee last season and knew he would do the same in the NBA. 

“JJ (Redick) will figure it out,” Polinksy said of the first-year Lakers head coach, “he was a shooter. DK is more than that as we all know, but it’s not shocking. He’s got that mentality and that mental toughness to get through this.” 

Roughly 12 hours, Knecht was torching the Utah Jazz. 

Tuesday night he scored a career-high 37 points and tied an NBA rookie record with nine 3-pointers, finishing 12-for-16 from the field and 9-for-12 from the 3-point line. 

Dalton Knecht the season: 11.3 ppg, 52.3% FG, 46.4% 3FG

The 37-point inferno came just one game removed from scoring what was then a career-high 27 points against the Pelicans Saturday night, when he made 10 of 17 shots and went 5-for-10 at the 3-point line. 

The 19 he scored last week against the Grizzlies — another career high, at the time — came on a perfect 5-for-5 from the 3-point line. 

“It looks like a Tennessee practice out there sometimes,” Tennessee senior guard Jordan Gainey said Tuesday, “whenever he gets going. But we all knew it was going to happen. 

“DK is just a special player. Being able to see him go out there and live out his dream is something amazing that we all like to see.”

Knecht entered the NBA Draft in June widely considered to be a top-ten pick and virtual lock to be a lottery pick. Then, on draft night, he started to fall, dropping all the way to the Lakers with the 17th overall pick, with many saying the 23-year-old fell because of his age.

“They didn’t find DK,” LeBron James said after the game Tuesday, when asked about the Lakers front office drafting Knecht. “The other 16 teams f***ed it up. Did anybody watch him? … They just didn’t f***k it up.

“You don’t ‘find’ an SEC Player of the Year.”

Knecht showed it Tuesday night in the third quarter alone, scoring 21 points on a perfect 6-for-6 shooting from the 3-point line.

“In the second half,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said during his postgame press conference, “it seemed like everybody in the gym knew that Dalton Knecht was going to shoot the next shot, with the exception of a few people. The problem was that those few people were on our team.”

‘I think he’s starting to acclimate to the situation and you’re seeing some great performances’

Knecht in his one season at Tennessee led the Vols to the Elite Eight while averaging 21.7 points per game — he shot 45.8% from the floor and 39.7% from the 3-point line — and 25.5 points in SEC games. He was the SEC Player of the Year and a consensus first team All American after transferring from Northern Colorado. 

He scored a career-high 40 points against Kentucky in his final game at Food City Center last March. He scored 30 or more points in eight games, 20 or more points in 19 games and 10 or more points in 32 of Tennessee’s 36 games.

Polinksy said learning how to play with great players at the NBA level — “I mean great players, legendary players” — was a process Knecht had to go through. 

“You’re not always getting it when you are open,” Polinksy said, “because those guys are so good. They’re going do what they do.”

Right now, the Lakers are letting Knecht do what he does.

“I think he’s starting to acclimate to the situation,” Polinksy said, “and you’re seeing some great performances.”