Dalton Knecht

L.A. Notes: Vanderbilt, Knecht, Kawhi, Powell, K. Jones

Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt will be sidelined to open the 2024/25 regular season as he continues to rehab from surgeries on both feet in May, head coach J.J. Redick said on Thursday evening (Twitter link via ESPN’s Dave McMenamin). According to Redick, Vanderbilt will be out at least two more weeks, which means he’ll miss a minimum of five regular season games.

A rangy, versatile defender, Vanderbilt was limited to just 29 games due to foot injuries. Redick said last week that the 25-year-old hasn’t experienced any setbacks in training camp, but he has yet to take part in practice, contact or otherwise.

Here’s more on the NBA’s two Los Angeles teams:

  • No. 17 overall pick Dalton Knecht showed on Thursday why the Lakers believe he’ll be viewed as a draft-night steal, according to Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times. Knecht scored 35 points in 32 minutes off the bench, pouring in the Lakers’ last seven points of regulation and their first 13 of overtime. League executives say Knecht fell out of the lottery due to concerns about his age and defensive limitations, per Woike, but he appears poised to open his rookie season as a rotation player in Los Angeles.
  • Discussing the status of Kawhi Leonard‘s troublesome right knee, Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue admitted the star forward experienced a setback at Team USA’s training camp, as Janis Carr of The Orange County Register relays. “The swelling was down, everything was going in the right direction,” Lue said. “He had worked hard to get to the that point and then once you start playing, you never know what’s going to happen.”
  • Clippers swingman Norman Powell spoke to Mark Medina of Sportskeeda.com about a wide variety of topics, including his first impressions of the team’s new arena, Leonard’s absence, and being challenged to step up on defense with Kawhi out. “Over the years, there’s been a focus on my scoring part,” Powell said. “But I’m tapping back into my defensive abilities and guarding as a two-way player. I love it. I know I can do it.”
  • After a strong camp and preseason, big man Kai Jones is set to open the season with the Clippers, tweets Law Murray of The Athletic. Since the team already has 15 players on guaranteed contracts, Jones will likely have his Exhibit 10 deal converted into a two-way contract prior to opening night, Murray adds.

Rory Maher contributed to this post.

NBA GMs High On Thunder’s Offseason Moves, Celtics’ Title Chances

The Thunder made the best roster moves during the 2024 offseason, according to the NBA’s general managers. Within his annual survey of the league’s top basketball decision-makers, John Schuhmann of NBA.com writes that 37% of his respondents picked Oklahoma City as having the best summer, with the Sixers coming in second place at 33%. The Knicks got 20% of the vote share, while no other club received more than a single vote.

It was one of many favorable outcomes in the survey for the Thunder, who were overwhelmingly selected as the team with the best young core — 60% of GMs selected OKC, compared to 20% for the second-place Magic.

New Thunder guard Alex Caruso was chosen by general managers as the most underrated offseason acquisition, receiving 23% of that vote share, while last year’s Most Valuable Player runner-up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was picked as this year’s MVP favorite (40%), narrowly edging Mavericks star Luka Doncic (30%).

The Thunder also received a handful of votes from the league’s GMs as the team that will win the 2025 NBA Finals, but at 13%, they finished a distant second to the Celtics, who earned a whopping 83% of the vote. Besides those two clubs, only the Mavericks (3%) received a vote to become this season’s champions.

Here are a few more interesting results from Schuhmann’s GM survey, which is worth checking out in full:

  • New Sixers forward Paul George got 60% of the vote as the offseason acquisition who will have the biggest impact in 2024/25, followed by new Knicks Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns at 13% apiece. The Towns trade, meanwhile, was named the most surprising offseason move, eking out George leaving Los Angeles for Philadelphia (27% to 23%).
  • Unsurprisingly, Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama was the overwhelming choice (77%) for which player the GMs would most want to start a franchise with. Gilgeous-Alexander and Nuggets center Nikola Jokic each earned three votes in that category, while Doncic got one.
  • The league’s general managers are high on No. 3 overall pick Reed Sheppard — the Rockets‘ guard is their pick to win the Rookie of the Year award (50%) ahead of betting favorite Zach Edey of the Grizzlies (30%). Sheppard also comfortably received the largest vote share (43%) when the GMs were asked which rookie will be the best player in five years. Spurs guard Stephon Castle (17%) and Hawks forward Zaccharie Risacher (13%) were the runners-up in that category.
  • There was no consensus among the GMs on which 2024 draftee was the biggest steal. Wizards guard Carlton Carrington, Kings guard Devin Carter, Pacers wing Johnny Furphy, Lakers forward Dalton Knecht, Timberwolves guard Terrence Shannon, and Thunder guard Nikola Topic each received three votes to lead the way.
  • Among newly hired head coaches, Mike Budenholzer of the Suns is the one GMs feel will have the biggest impact on his new club. Budenholzer received 40% of the vote, beating out Kenny Atkinson of the Cavaliers and J.B. Bickerstaff of the Pistons (20% apiece). Meanwhile, Spurs guard Chris Paul (30%) and Raptors guard Garrett Temple (20%) are the active players that GMs feel would make the best head coaches down the road.
  • Asked what they’d change about the NBA, 20% of GMs said the rules related to the tax aprons, trades, and roster construction are too restrictive and/or should be “indexed to (a) team’s market,” per Schuhmann, making it the top response.

Lakers Notes: LeBron, Davis, Bronny, Christie, Knecht

LeBron James and Anthony Davis will make their preseason debuts Sunday night against Phoenix, writes Khobi Price of The Orange County Register. Both players were held out of Friday’s loss to Minnesota, with coach J.J. Redick explaining that he didn’t want to risk using them after they played in the Olympics and had a heavy workload at training camp.

“We want to carry over with what we did [Saturday] at practice,” James said. “We were very intent on what we want to accomplish going forward. [Friday] was one of those first games. It’s been a while since a lot of guys have played in a game setting. And it looked that way.”

James had a good vantage point to watch his son, Bronny James in his first game against NBA competition. Bronny scored two points and shot just 1-of-6 from the field, but he led the team with three blocked shots.

“For him, it’s obviously an adjustment,” LeBron said. “Every rank that you climb, it’s always an adjustment to get used to it. When he went to high school, from middle school from high school to USC and now to the pros, it’s always an adjustment to make. The more time he’s out on the floor with pros, the speed, the cadence, you get better and better the more time you put on the floor.

“And you’ve got to think that he lost pretty much a third of last season because of the (heart) condition. But he’s gotten better and better every day. He continues to put the work in. And it’s up to us as the veterans and the guys out here to try to help him, help Dalton (Knecht), help all the young guys to get him better and better every day to help them accomplish what we want to accomplish.”

There’s more on the Lakers:

  • Redick was also encouraged by what he saw from Bronny, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN. Redick said Bronny has looked good in camp and is “easy to coach.”“He can do some things defensively at his size that are really unique, and I think can turn into a really disruptive defender,” Redick said. “That manifested itself. On the offensive end, he’s still figuring out who he is. That’s our job as a player development program just to build him in.”
  • There was a lot of attention on Bronny, but Max Christie made the biggest impact on Friday night, observes Jovan Buha of The Athletic. The 21-year-old shooting guard, who signed a four-year, $32MM contract this summer, started the preseason with 11 points, seven rebounds, two assists, one steal and two blocks in 34 minutes. He has also become more aggressive defensively — at Redick’s request. “He’s asked me to be kind of that dog on defense, pick up full-court,” Christie said. “I tried to do a little bit of that tonight. There’s a comfort level that I’m going to get a little bit more comfortable with. I haven’t really done that a lot in my career.”
  • The Lakers also got an encouraging debut from Knecht, who shot 7-of-13 from the field and tied for the team lead with 16 points, Buha adds. He displayed a quick release on his jumper and was competitive on the defensive end.

Pacific Notes: Hield, Knecht, Hyland, Eubanks, Suns

New Warriors sharpshooter Buddy Hield, who ranks 22nd all-time among NBA players in career three-pointers, will be the de facto replacement for the player who ranks sixth on that all-time list (Klay Thompson). Asked this week if he feels pressure to replicate the production and the outside shooting that Thompson provided for years in Golden State, Hield downplayed that idea.

“There’s no pressure,” Hield said, per Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area. “Just come and do my job. What Klay has done for this organization has been tremendous. I love Klay a lot. I’ve watched him over the years. He’s special. The way he can get hot and the way he can just change the game and be the two-way player that he is, and the champion that he is. So, I don’t look at it as pressure. I think it’s fun just being in that role and seeing if I can get the same looks he got.”

Hield has never been as effective an all-around player as Thompson was in his prime years, and he certainly can’t match the former Warriors’ postseason accomplishments, having appeared in a playoff game for the first time this spring. However, the two players’ career shooting numbers are quite similar — Thompson has made 3.1 of 7.6 three-pointers per game (41.3%) in 793 contests, while Hield has knocked down 3.0 of 7.6 per game (40.0%) in 632 outings.

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

  • Dalton Knecht has been the best player on the Lakers‘ Summer League roster and already looks like a potential steal as the No. 17 pick in this year’s draft, according to Jovan Buha of The Athletic, who says the rookie forward projects to be in the top nine of L.A.’s rotation in the regular season. Entering Thursday’s contest, Knecht has averaged 22.0 PPG with a .412 3PT% in his first two games in Vegas.
  • Bones Hyland saw more playing time for the Clippers during the final month-and-a-half of the 2023/24 season and won’t have Russell Westbrook ahead of him on the depth chart in ’24/25. However, with Kris Dunn and Kevin Porter Jr. now in the mix in a Los Angeles backcourt that also features James Harden, Norman Powell, and Terance Mann, there’s still no clear path to regular playing time for Hyland, who remains on the trade block, according to Law Murray of The Athletic (Twitter link).
  • Although Drew Eubanks decided well ahead of his player option deadline to opt out of his deal and become a free agent, he wasn’t necessarily set on leaving the Suns, as Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic relays. “The interest was always there for me to return (to Phoenix),” said Eubanks, who ultimately agreed to a deal with Utah. “The notion of it being a ‘mutual split’ is just factually false. There were a lot of conversations about me coming back this next year from the moment the season ended and into free agency. At the end of the day, there were other opportunities and I had to make the best decision for myself and my family. Loved my year in Phoenix.”
  • The Suns will hire John Little as the head coach of their new NBA G League affiliate, the Valley Suns, sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). Little was previously part of G League coaching staffs with Maine and Wisconsin.

Lakers Notes: Bronny, Knecht, LeBron, Redick, St. Jean

Bronny James had an uneven debut with the Lakers on Saturday at the California Classic summer league, writes Anthony De Leon of The Los Angeles Times. The 55th overall pick of last month’s draft, James finished with four points (on 2-of-9 shooting), two assists, two rebounds and a steal in 22 minutes.

Overall [I need to] just be aggressive, believe in myself and know that I can make plays for myself and my teammates,” James said. “Playing my game on the defensive end, especially because I believe I know how to play.”

He’s going to play — granted, if he’s healthy — throughout this whole thing,” summer league coach Dane Johnson said, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “We’re going to try to integrate him and try to get him as many reps as we can. Because he needs more experience playing. And especially the NBA game. It’s a little different than college, so getting reps in the NBA, in an NBA setting with good players will help him in the long run.”

First-rounder Dalton Knecht also showed signs of rust, De Leon notes, putting up 12 points, four assists, two rebounds and two steals, but going just 3-of-12 from the floor in 26 minutes. The Lakers lost to the Kings by 14 points.

Here’s more on the Lakers:

  • ESPN insiders McMenamin, Kendra Andrews and Baxter Holmes provide their takeaways from Bronny’s debut.
  • LeBron James was ecstatic that the Lakers drafted his son Bronny, according to Tim Bontemps of ESPN. “For me to see my son to be able to, you know, be in the NBA alone. I mean, it’s always been a dream of his and for us to be side by side … there’s a loss of words, to be honest,” LeBron said after his first practice with Team USA ahead of the Paris Olympics.”I mean, the kid has worked so hard to get back to this point. There’s just so much that’s happened over the last year with him to have this happen less than a year from his incident to be with our friends and our family. When they announced his name, it was something that was super surreal, and it’s kind of still, our family still don’t even have enough words to explain the feeling that we had.” Both LeBron and Anthony Davis — another member of Team USA — were optimistic about the hiring of J.J. Redick as head coach, Bontemps adds.
  • Replacing Darvin Ham with Redick has been the Lakers’ biggest offseason move to this point. Will a new coach be enough to improve a team with a roster that’s mostly the same as 2023/24? Mirjam Swanson of The Southern California News Group explores that topic.
  • The Lakers are hiring Greg St. Jean as an assistant coach on Redick’s staff, sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). St. Jean, who was an assistant in L.A. when the Lakers won the title in 2020, has worked for Dallas and Phoenix in recent seasons, Scotto notes.

Dalton Knecht Signs Rookie Scale Contract With Lakers

First-round pick Dalton Knecht has reached a contract agreement with the Lakers, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.

L.A. was delighted to see the Tennessee sharpshooter slip to No. 17 in last week’s draft and reportedly has plans for him to be an immediate contributor. Although he’s old for a prospect at 23 and there are questions about his defense, his shooting is an obvious skill that should translate into the NBA.

Knecht played two years at Northern Colorado before transferring to Tennessee last summer. He was a consensus first-team All-American and was named SEC Player of the Year in his lone season with the Volunteers, averaging 21.7 points per game with .458/.397/.772 shooting stats.

Knecht’s four-year contract is expected to be worth about $18.5MM with a first-year salary of $3.8MM as our breakdown of this year’s rookie scale salaries shows. He’s now ineligible to be traded for 30 days.

Pacific Notes: George, Harden, Bronny, Knecht, Carter, Dunn

Speaking to reporters on Thursday night, president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank said the Clippers “love” Paul George and “very much want to retain” him, but acknowledged that the team doesn’t have full control over the process, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. George holds a $48.8MM player option for 2024/25. If he doesn’t get a contract offer he likes from the Clippers, he could turn down that option to become a free agent — or pick it up and request a trade.

“We hope Paul’s decision is to be here. He’s been awesome,” Frank said. “He’s been an All-Star. He’s one of the best two-way players in the league. He’s a terrific person. He’s got great family, so we hope he’s here but also respect the fact that if he chooses to opt out, that’s his choice. He’s earned it and we’ll see how things play out.”

In addition to George, the Clippers have another key player facing unrestricted free agency, with James Harden set to reach the open market on Sunday if he doesn’t agree to a new deal before then. Frank said talks with Harden’s camp so far have been productive.

“We think James has been terrific for us,” Frank said. “We hope he’s had a great experience while he has been here and we hope he decides to continue to be here. … We very much want James to remain a Clipper and hope he decides to do the same.”

Re-signing both George and Harden would likely make the Clippers a second-apron team for a second straight season, with more punitive roster-building restrictions taking effect this offseason for clubs above the second tax apron. Frank admitted that’s a factor the organization can’t ignore as it weighs potential roster moves.

“This is a business and the reality of the new CBA impacts teams like us,” he said, according to Youngmisuk. “When your better players are in their 30s and you’re trying to build a sustainable roster, it impacts it. Like if there was no CBA, with (Clippers owner) Steve Ballmer, it would be carte blanche. With the new CBA, it’s not even about the money as it is how are you going to build a sustainable roster, maintain your tools to have transactional flexibility? And with that comes really, really hard decisions.”

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

  • Discussing the Lakers‘ decision to draft Bronny James with the No. 55 pick on Thursday, head of basketball operations Rob Pelinka praised the former USC guard’s character, work ethic, and three-and-D potential, and said it would be “magical” to see him and his father LeBron James play alongside one another next season, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. While it’s safe to assume LeBron is happy with the pick, McMenamin says star big man Anthony Davis supported it too. “He’s very good defensively,” Davis said of Bronny. “He can read the floor very well. I think he’s a really good play-maker. I saw him work out a couple times besides the (Klutch Sports) pro day and working with a big — his reads, reading the defense, making the right passes — that was really impressive to me. I think he’s going to be fine, man.”
  • The Lakers were thrilled to land Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht at No. 17 on the first day of the draft, McMenamin writes in a separate story for ESPN. “If we would have had the 10th pick in the draft, we would have taken him. So, to get that value at 17 is really extraordinary,” Pelinka said, adding that new head coach J.J. Redick immediately started drawing up plays for the sharpshooter in the Lakers’ draft room. Viewed as a potential top-10 pick, Knecht slipped due to concerns about his age (23) and defense, sources tell Jovan Buha of The Athletic.
  • No. 13 overall pick Devin Carter is dealing with a shoulder injury and his status for Summer League is up in the air, Kings general manager Monte McNair told reporters on Wednesday. However, McNair suggested the injury isn’t a serious one, according to Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. “I think we got to get him in here and get with our doctors and just see what it is,” the Kings’ GM said. “But when we get through the draft process, our docs are confident. We’ve been in touch with his team. We’re confident it’s not a long-term issue.”
  • Suns general manager James Jones acknowledged that first-round pick and defensive standout Ryan Dunn has room to improve as a shooter, but expressed confidence that will be possible in Phoenix, as Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports relays (Twitter video link). “I’m confident with our staff, with (Mike Budenholzer), our coaches, that he’ll be primed to improve as a shooter,” Jones said. “If he can do that and do it quickly, I think we found a gem.”

Draft Rumors: Hornets, Salaun, Nets, Celtics, Spurs

The Hornets are considering Tidjane Salaun with the No. 6 pick, sources tell Krysten Peek of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The French power forward has been rising up draft boards recently.

Salaun had to cancel workouts with Charlotte and Detroit after spraining his ankle during a recent session in San Antonio, according to Jonathan Givony of ESPN. He did work out for the Trail Blazers, who hold the seventh pick, and the Spurs are believed to have interest at No. 8, so there’s a good chance he’ll be selected somewhere in the middle of the lottery. Oklahoma City (No. 12) and Sacramento (No. 13) also hosted workouts with Salaun.

Here are a few more rumors as the draft draws closer:

  • The Nets are “open for business” after reaching an agreement to trade Mikal Bridges to New York, tweets Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports. Cameron Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith are among the players believed to be available as Brooklyn tries to move into the first round.
  • The Celtics are shopping the final pick in the first round in hopes of acquiring some extra selections later on, a source tells Brian Robb of MassLive. Robb notes that Boston sent out two second-round picks to acquire Xavier Tillman from Memphis and another in the Jaden Springer deal with Philadelphia, so the team is short on second-rounders. A source tells Robb the Celtics are planning offseason extensions with Derrick White and Sam Hauser, so it will be important to fill out the roster as inexpensively as possible.
  • The Spurs will be looking for shooters with at least one of their lottery picks, general manager Brian Wright told Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News. The team ranked 28th in three-point shooting percentage this season. “We broke the (franchise) record for (total) three-pointers, but then percentage-wise we’re towards the bottom end of the league, right?” Wright said. “So I think you obviously want to add shooting.” McDonald views Kentucky guard Reed Sheppard as a possible shooting upgrade with the fourth pick if he slips past Houston at No. 3, while Tennessee forward Dalton Knecht is in the mix at No. 8.

Draft Rumors: Knicks, Sixers, Dillingham, Heat, Jazz, Lakers, More

After surrendering several future first-round picks in their trade agreement for Mikal Bridges, the Knicks are now considered more likely to keep their three picks – No. 24, No. 25, and No. 38 – in this year’s draft, which begins on Wednesday night, Jonathan Givony writes in ESPN’s latest mock draft (Insider link).

The updated mock draft from Givony and ESPN’s Jeremy Woo includes several more notable tidbits, including the fact that the Sixers have conducted perhaps the fewest pre-draft workouts of any team with a first-round pick, resulting in speculation that the No. 16 selection will be traded.

Givony also provides an update on Kentucky’s Rob Dillingham, who wasn’t able to work out for teams for most of the pre-draft process due to an ankle injury. According to Givony, teams picking both earlier and later in the first round are trying to figure out where they might need to get to in order to land Dillingham, who has been considered a candidate to fall further than initially anticipated.

The Heat at No. 15 would be one option for Dillingham, as rival teams expect them to select a guard at that spot. Jared McCain, Isaiah Collier, and Carlton Carrington have also been mentioned as candidates for Miami at No. 15, Givony writes.

Here’s more on the 2024 NBA draft, which gets underway in less than 11 hours:

  • According to Givony, the Jazz (No. 10) have looked into some trade-up scenarios involving the Pistons‘ No. 5 overall pick. Their likely target would be UConn’s Stephon Castle, who is considered a possibility for the Hornets at No. 6 but may also come off the board at No. 4 to the Spurs, Givony explains.
  • Some rival executives think the Lakers will attempt to move up from No. 17 in the draft in order to target a specific player, according to Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times, who says Providence’s Devin Carter and Baylor’s Ja’Kobe Walter are two prospects the team likes.
  • Within his final look at the Spurs‘ draft options at No. 4 and 8, LJ Ellis of SpursTalk says a rumor that San Antonio has made a promise to French forward Tidjane Salaun has been “spreading like wildfire in the draft world,” though he hasn’t been able to confirm it himself. Ellis lists Salaun at No. 5 on his big board of Spurs draft prospects.
  • Salaun is also a potential target to watch for the Trail Blazers at No. 7, according to Sean Highkin of The Rose Garden Report (Substack link), who identifies Donovan Clingan, Cody Williams, Dalton Knecht, and Salaun as the prospects he believes Portland is most interested in. At No. 14, Highkin views Kyshawn George, Tristan Da Silva, Kel’el Ware, and Zach Edey as the Blazers’ most likely targets.

Southwest Rumors: Rockets, George, Pelicans, Grizzlies, Sharpe, Doncic

The Rockets are among the teams with interest in Paul George if he can’t work out an extension with the Clippers this week, league sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. Even though Houston is considered an unlikely destination for George, it’s an indication that the team is engaged in “big game hunting” ahead of the draft and free agency, Scotto adds.

He also hears that Rockets general manager Rafael Stone has been involved in exploratory conversations about dealing the No. 3 pick for a “win-now player upgrade” and possibly moving down in the draft.

For Houston to land George, he would have to exercise his $48.8MM player option for next season and request a trade. The organization has six recent first-round picks on its roster, along with the rights to Brooklyn’s first-rounders over the next three years.

Scotto notes that even if the Rockets don’t acquire George, they have plenty of flexibility for a major move, holding team options on Jeff Green ($8MM) and Jae’Sean Tate ($7.57MM), along with an $8MM non-guaranteed salary for Jock Landale. Houston is expected to hang onto all three of those players through their various option/guarantee deadlines, according to Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (subscription required), who also reports that the team is open to re-signing free agent guard Aaron Holiday.

There’s more from the Southwest Division:

  • With Jonas Valanciunas considered likely to leave in free agency, the Pelicans are willing to trade the 21st pick in this year’s draft for center help, sources tell Scotto. Along with New Orleans, NBA executives consider the Grizzlies and Thunder to be possible destinations for Hawks center Clint Capela, Scotto adds. If the Pelicans keep their pick, Scotto sees Baylor center Yves Missi as a potential selection, comparing him to Capela as an athletic big man who should thrive in the pick and roll. Scotto also hears that the organization will target another former head coach for Willie Green’s staff if it loses associate head coach James Borrego.
  • The Grizzlies have renewed their interest in Nets backup center Day’Ron Sharpe after holding talks with Brooklyn at the trade deadline, Scotto states. He adds that Memphis considered making an offer for forward Dorian Finney-Smith before the Nets acquired him at the 2023 deadline. In his aggregate mock draft, Scotto suggests the Grizzlies might take Tennessee shooting specialist Dalton Knecht as a potential replacement for Luke Kennard, who has a $14.8MM team option for next season and is considered a possible trade candidate.
  • Mavericks star Luka Doncic has joined the Slovenian national team and plans to participate in an Olympic Qualifying Tournament July 2-7 in Greece, according to NBA reporter Marc Stein (Twitter link).