On Tuesday evening, Dalton Knecht lit the NBA world on fire with a historic 37-point outburst in a home win against the Utah Jazz as part of NBA Cup action. Knecht at one point scored 21 straight Lakers points, including hitting five straight triples in a red hot third quarter effort to help Los Angeles pull away and secure the victory.
Knecht was drafted 17th this past year out of Tennessee, having slipped a bit due to concerns about his age when compared to other prospects, but oddsmakers are now responding to his latest scoring exploding by shifting his Rookie of the Year betting odds from +2500 last week to +225 currently, per the BetMGM Sportsbook (via Peter Dewey of Sports Illustrated).
The current favorite for the award is Philadelphia 76ers rookie Jared McCain, who has been the lone bright spot for a 76ers team that has otherwise had a disastrous start to the 2024-25 NBA campaign.
Still, there’s no denying that the early returns on the Knecht investment have been promising, to say the very least, as the sharpshooter has provided floor spacing and scoring punch off of the bench in the recent absence of Rui Hachimura.
Is Knecht the missing piece for LA?
One of the key themes throughout the LeBron James Lakers era since they won the championship in 2020 has been the relative lack of floor spacing around James and costar Anthony Davis, who has gotten off to an MVP caliber start to the new season.
While three point shooting wasn’t much of an issue for the Lakers throughout last regular season, their struggles in that department reared their ugly heads during the team’s first round loss to the Denver Nuggets in the NBA playoffs.
This was a large part of the reason why Rob Pelinka and company decided to take a chance on Knecht, who was viewed as a player who was probably already close to what his ceiling was going to be but also as one of the more polished prospects in this draft class.
Knecht certainly looked polished on Tuesday evening, pulling up with absolutely no conscience against pretty solid defense from the Utah Jazz throughout the third quarter.
Knecht is now averaging north of 11 points per game on 52% shooting from the field after a rough start to his rookie campaign.
In any case, the Lakers will next take the floor on Thursday evening at home against the Orlando Magic.
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