The Los Angeles Lakers have had a rough last couple of home games, first dropping a heartbreaker to the Orlando Magic courtesy of a Franz Wagner game winner and then getting blown out by the Denver Nuggets on Saturday evening despite having the rest advantage. The losses dropped Los Angeles’ record to 10-6 on the young 2024-25 NBA season as they prepare to embark on another road trip.
Despite that frustration, one of the bright spots for the Lakers as of late has been the play of rookie Dalton Knecht, who recently lit the NBA world on fire with a 37-point outburst–including 21 in the third quarter alone–against the Utah Jazz.
One person who is impressed by what he’s seen from Knecht thus far this season is NBA insider Marc Stein, who recently took to his account on Substack to relay his thoughts.
“The Lakers are a perfect fit for him — if he keeps making shots when LeBron passes to him,” noted Stein. “We have seen it for many years: As long as you make shots, LeBron will like you. He’s also got AD [Anthony Davis] to protect him defensively and JJ [Redick] is a great coach for him because, as a player, JJ was him.”
Indeed, Redick and Knecht share many similarities as players, most notably in their willingness to move without the ball in order to get jump shooting opportunities for themselves and space the floor for their teammates.
How big should Dalton Knecht’s role be?
As Stein alluded to in his report, the formula for success for a LeBron James-led team has always been to surround the four-time MVP with jump shooters who can space the floor and make the defense pay for any extra attention they understandably pay to James.
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That formula showed up in recent Lakers wins vs the New Orleans Pelicans and then vs the Jazz, as Knecht torched those two respective defenses and has provided some much needed firepower to a Lakers offense that went ice cold from three in their playoff loss last year to the Nuggets.
Knecht remains a work in progress defensively, and it remains to be seen whether JJ Redick will be able to afford to let him share the floor with other defensive weak links like D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves and have it be worth the points they give up.
Still, Lakers fans have to be encouraged by what they’ve seen from the 17th overall pick thus far.
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