The Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 draft night buzz may be all about Bronny James, but let\u2019s not overlook their steal at No. 17.<\/p>\n
Dalton Knecht, the former Tennessee sharpshooter, fell just three spots outside the lottery, surprising many in the know. Ageism was the culprit, apparently, as some teams shied away from the 23-year-old\u2019s proven college experience. It\u2019s a curious oversight, given the success stories like Miami Heat\u2019s Jaime Jaquez Jr., who thrived after a four-year stint at UCLA.<\/p>\n
Jaquez, skeptics be damned, quickly silenced doubts by becoming a pivotal player in Miami\u2019s rotation. His ability to step up in crucial moments alongside stars like Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo showcased the value of seasoned collegiate stars in the NBA.<\/p>\n
Now, with Lakers\u2019 guard D\u2019Angelo Russell possibly on the move, Knecht stands poised to step into the spotlight at a moment\u2019s notice. His scoring prowess and readiness to contribute to a championship-caliber team make him more than just a draft pick\u2014 he\u2019s a potential game-changer for the purple and gold.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 draft night buzz may be all about Bronny James, but let\u2019s not overlook their steal at\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":294,"featured_media":38686,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[583,3867],"class_list":["post-17944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","tag-lakers","tag-nba-draft"],"reading_time":"1 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/294"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}