'There's no way': Dalton Knecht was starstruck by Lebron James. Now he's his newest teammate.
Dalton Knecht’s phone was blowing up in March. His friends were texting him. His parents called him. But it had nothing to do with anything he had done on the court. Instead, it was a video making rounds on social media.
Lebron James, of all people, had mentioned Knecht by name.
“I remember that clip,” Knecht said Wednesday night.
James was seated in a locker stall, surrounded by reporters and discussing how star power drives ratings.
“You’re going to watch Purdue because of Zach Edey,” James said at the time, “because he’s a great player. We watched that Purdue-Tennessee game because of Zach Edey and Knecht. Players, depending on who they are, will drive the attention when it comes to viewership.”
LeBron James said that he watched Tennessee play in the Elite Eight because of Dalton Knecht.
— Tanner Johnson (@JohnsonTanner23) April 4, 2024
“We watched that Purdue-Tennessee game because of Zach Edey and Knecht.”
Video: @mcten pic.twitter.com/HTKnOJRqsX
Knecht averaged 21.7 points per game during All-American season at Tennessee
James was referencing the battle between Edey and Knecht in the NCAA Tournament. Knecht had 37 points, going 6-for-12 from the 3-point line, but Edey finished with 40 points and 16 rebounds to lead the Boilermakers to the 72-66 win in the Elite Eight.
Later that week, after the Lakers won a game on the road against the Washington Wizards and mentioned the two players by name during postgame, Knecht’s phone started going off.
“I woke up and rolled out of bed and I thought it was fake,” Knecht said, “because tons of people were texting me. I was just like, there’s no way.”
Now, less than three months later, Knecht is teammates with James.
The Los Angeles Lakers selected him with the No. 17 overall pick in the NBA Draft Wednesday in Brooklyn, after Tennessee’s star wing slid on draft night after being widely projected as a top-10 pick.
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“It feels great to play with one of the greats to ever touch a basketball,” Knecht said after the draft. “It’s going to be exciting to go put on a show for L.A.”
‘LeBron is one of the greatest. So it’s going to be real special.’
Knecht put on a nonstop show at Tennessee, averaging 21.7 points per game on his way to becoming a consensus First Tam All-American and winning SEC Player of the Year.
Now he joins a star-studded Laker roster, alongside James and Anthony Davis, that needs the kind of scoring Knecht has shown he can provide.
Now the viral video of James mentioning Knecht’s name will be a distant memory.
“When I watched that video, it just brought a smile to my face, and also my parents,” Knecht said. “They called me right away and told me about it. It’s going to be special and it’s going to be fun just to be sharing the court with both of them, AD and LeBron. LeBron is one of the greatest. So it’s going to be real special.”
