LeBron James not surprised by strong performance from Dalton Knecht

After a slow start to the season, Los Angeles Lakers rookie Dalton Knecht has really started to come on strong in recent games.

Saturday night’s win over the New Orleans Pelicans was the best performance of Knecht’s season, as he scored a career-high 27 points on 10-of-17 shooting and 2-of-4 from deep to go along with seven rebounds, two assists and two. steals.

With the Lakers struggling and lacking energy, Knecht had a big stretch with 11 points in the third quarter to almost single-handedly bring his team back.

While some people may be surprised by how good Knecht has been for LA, LeBron James is not one of those people.

“That he’s been a pro for a while,” James said of what this latest stretch shows about Knecht. “I talked about it last year, so it’s no surprise to me… No surprise to me.”

James went on to elaborate on what Knecht has brought to the Lakers and why he believes he will be a big piece for them going forward.

“His shooting, his finishes. He can get free against anybody. He’s 6’8-6’9 and he’s got a quick trigger, so it doesn’t take long for him to get them up. He’s also sneaky athletic , so his ability when he starts making the 3s and then he puts the ball on the floor and also finishes at the rim, we saw that a couple of times tonight. It was high time for us, especially then Rui was out and Cam was out. We had a lot of bodies out too, just like they did.”

It is clear that Knecht has become very comfortable over the last few games and has earned the trust of James and his teammates. His role with the Lakers should only get bigger going forward as a result.

Dalton Knecht credits JJ Redick and teammates for having faith in him

After another strong performance recently, Dalton Knecht credited JJ Redick and his Lakers teammates for trusting him to take shots despite struggling earlier this year.

“It’s been good. I trust my shot and I work on it every single day,” Knecht added. “My teammates know that and they want me to keep shooting the ball every single game. They always look for me and JJ trusts me, always calls my number and plays for me. So I just go out there, stay confident and try to not only shoot the ball, but find my teammates and play defense and grab rebounds.”

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