Dalton Knecht’s results versus the Memphis Grizzlies.
Los Angeles (14-12) defeated Memphis (18-9), 116-110, Sunday at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California.
Former Tennessee basketball player Dalton Knecht totaled five points and three rebounds in 13 minutes for the Lakers. He converted 2-of-4 field goal attempts and 1-of-2 free throw attempts.
The former Vol was selected in the first-round of the 2024 NBA draft (No. 17 overall) by Los Angeles.
Knecht was a transfer from Northern Colorado and played for the Vols during the 2023-24 season under coach Rick Barnes. During his one season at Tennessee, Knecht averaged 21.7 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.
He led the Vols to a SEC regular-season championship and an appearance in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament for the second time in school history.
Knecht was the 2024 SEC Player and SEC Newcomer of the Year. He was a consensus All-America standout and earned the Julius Erving Award.
He converted 2-of-5 field goal attempts and 2-of-4 free throw attempts.
The former Vol was selected in the first-round of the 2024 NBA draft (No. 17 overall) by Los Angeles.
Knecht was a transfer from Northern Colorado and played for the Vols during the 2023-24 season under coach Rick Barnes. During his one season at Tennessee, Knecht averaged 21.7 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.
He led the Vols to a SEC regular-season championship and an appearance in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament for the second time in school history.
Knecht was the 2024 SEC Player and SEC Newcomer of the Year. He was a consensus All-America standout and earned the Julius Erving Award.
With the NBA season in full swing, here’s a weekly check on JJ Redick’s first season as the Los Angeles Lakers head coach.
The Los Angeles Lakers lost a 97-87 game to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night, dropping Duke basketball legend [autotag]JJ Redick[/autotag] down to 13-12 in his first season as the franchise’s head coach.
The Lakers won six games in a row from November 8-19, including victories over Blue Devils rookies [autotag]Jared McCain[/autotag] (Philadelphia 76ers) and [autotag]Kyle Filipowski[/autotag] (Utah Jazz). However, Los Angeles has only won three of its eight games since to drop down to the 10th overall seed in the Western Conference.
Redick, the all-time leading scorer in Blue Devils history, picked up the job this offseason after a few years within the media sphere. He appeared on ESPN talk shows and hosted several podcasts, including one with Lakers star LeBron James, after his retirement in 2021.
James, now in his 22nd season at 39 years old, is averaging 23.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 9.1 assists per game with seven triple-doubles.
The Lakers hope to reverse their recent form against the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday night at 9:30 p.m. Eastern time.
Bronny was never known as a scorer, so this was a HUGE deal.
Los Angeles Lakers draftee Bronny James played his first road game in the G League and managed to score 30 points, and that is a big deal.
James, who was selected at No. 55 overall in the 2024 NBA Draft, had scored just 4 points across 7 games when suiting up for the Lakers. But with the South Bay Lakers in the G League, he would have more opportunity to actually develop and play real minutes with the ball in his hands.
He made the most of the opportunity, as 30 points against pros is no small accomplishment. But it is also entirely out of character for his playing style and archetype.
With help from Cerebro Sports, we looked at every game that Bronny has played tracked in their database since had just turned 15 years old.
That spans 115 matches across high school at Sierra Canyon, AAU tournaments with his team Strive For Greatness, various other competition including the California Basketball Club in France, and college.
During that fairly large sample size, mostly against high schoolers, Bronny has averaged 8.1 points per game. While his defense has always impressed scouts, no one would call LeBron’s son a certified bucket.
In fact, across those first 114 games before last night, he had only exceeded 20 points in just 5 instances. It happened twice at Peach Jam while playing AAU basketball for Nike EYBL in 2022, twice with California Basketball Club, and once at Sierra Canyon at the Les Schwab Invitational.
At every step, he always played with elite talent in more of an off-ball role. This helps in some ways, but it means that unlike Gilbert Arenas’ son Alijah, he has never had the chance to run his own offense.
His career-high at USC was just 15 points, although he was recovering from cardiac arrest that delayed the start of his only collegiate campaign.
Even before the health score, though, a 30-point game was fairly unheard of for Bronny. He had done it just once before, dropping 31 points for CBC at the GEICO Top Flight Invite in 2022. For further evidence of how rare that type of scoring was, though, he had just 4 points in the very next game.
Basketball is a game that requires confidence and for Bronny, it matters to see the ball go through that net. It was a low pressure environment in the G League, but that is exactly the kind of atmosphere where he can thrive so he feels ready for the toughest competition at the next level.
While he didn’t do it against an NBA team, he was able to keep up against some legitimately real competition.
He also stood out in a game that featured Mamadi Diakite (a former NCAA and G League champion who has earned G League All-Defensive honors), Jaden Shackelford (who won a title in the G League last year) as well as Cassius Stanley (a former top recruit also from Sierra Canyon).
Bronny had 14 possessions for South Bay in that game as the pick-and-roll ball handler and 6 more one-on-one against his defender in isolation, via Synergy. For comparison, he had just 19 possessions as the PnR ball handler and 9 in iso during his 25 games at USC.
South Bay put the ball in his hands and he made the most of the opportunity. Is that sustainable? That much is unclear, but any prediction between unlikely and cautiously optimistic is fair.
For his growth potential, however, these reps are invaluable and could go a long way to increase the likelihood of his longevity in the NBA.
There is still a long way to go until Bronny is ready to make a really positive impact in the league, if he ever does at all, but moments like last night make that feel far more attainable.
After missing time earlier this week, Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James is expected to miss another game on Friday.
The 39-year-old four-time NBA Finals MVP did not play on December 8 against the Portland Trail Blazers. He is also unlikely for December 13 vs. Minnesota on Friday.
James was excused from practice for personal reasons on Wednesday, per ESPN. Here is more from head coach JJ Redick, who added some further context for why:
“LeBron is not with the team right now,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said after practice. “He’s out for personal reasons, excused absence … Heck, if somebody wants to go spend a couple of nights in Santa Barbara and relax, that’s fine too,” Redick said after the Blazers game. “It’s a quarter way through the season.”
He is reportedly “taking some time” after missing the last contest due to foot soreness.
In the NBA, there are trades. Many, many trades. And to a lot of us, they are one of the best parts of NBA fandom. For every trade that does happen, however, there are countless that do not. Every day in an NBA front office is an exercise in …
In the NBA, there are trades. Many, many trades. And to a lot of us, they are one of the best parts of NBA fandom.
For every trade that does happen, however, there are countless that do not. Every day in an NBA front office is an exercise in information-gathering, establishing value, evaluating every possible option and maximizing the potential of every asset on the books. And of all the scenarios discussed, only a fraction ever come to fruition.
Of the deals that did not happen, only some make it into the public realm. Some reported deals came very close to completion, and some were in fact announced before force majeure events led to their cancellation. Be it the bigger deals that could change the outcome of NBA Finals, or the more fun smaller-scale ones (such as the MarShon Brooks/Dillon Brooksconfusion), there have been many times where events could have played out very differently, and almost did,
There follows a look at some of the biggest almost-trades in NBA history.
We’ll probably never see LeBron James and Steph Curry team up in the NBA.
In most cases, I would say to take a report that an NBA superstar is mostly happy with their current struggling team with a grain of salt. As we know, in this league, the best players can say one thing and completely change their stance weeks later because they hold most of the power and leverage.
But when ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reports that LeBron James really wants to stay with the Los Angeles Lakers instead of getting traded to the Golden State Warriors, I think we should believe all parties involved.
This situation is a bit different from your bog-standard “star looking for greener pastures” story.
During Wednesday morning’s episode of Get Up, Windhorst maintained that while the Warriors are still interested in pairing James with Steph Curry, that interest is not mutual. In fact, as Windhorst suggested, everything about James’ actions — from rebuffing the Warriors’ initial trade exploration to signing a new three-year contract with a no-trade clause — makes it clear he wants to remain a Laker in the twilight of his legendary career.
The report and argument make total sense. Windhorst’s monologue about James potentially joining the Warriors starts at the :42 second mark below:
Jimmy Butler and LeBron James are two stars on the Warriors’ radar, per @windhorstespn 👀
All of this sentiment tracks with how you’d think someone like James would approach the likely end of their extended career. He’s gonna be 40 by the end of 2024. He’s got his MVPs. He’s got his championships. He’s got his records. He’s got the whole “I shared the court with my son” thing.
Anything else from a basketball standpoint is gravy now.
While it would be cool to form up a legendary duo with a similarly older Curry as they pursue another title together, James is at the point of his career where he’s living it up in sunny Los Angeles with his family. So, of course, he prefers to try to compete with the Lakers as a hopeful championship contender. It doesn’t uproot any aspect of his current life. He’s probably not nearly as motivated as he used to be to add more trophies to his collection. If the Lakers can’t help James win, well, he’s likely at peace with everything he’s accomplished. And rightfully so.
James is past the point of rocking the boat with personal trade or free agency drama. Sorry, folks. The best snippets you’ll ever get of James and Curry lighting up opposing teams together are probably from the 2024 Paris Olympics. Savor those highlights while you can.
Now, we’re about to see James break another one of Abdul-Jabbar’s records in a few games.
As of Wednesday, December 11, LeBron has played 57,403 total minutes in the regular season. Kareem holds the record for minutes played at 57,446.
So, at some point over the next couple of games, LeBron James will become the NBA’s all-time leader in minutes played. Here’s a look at the top 10 via Basketball Reference.
Folks, this means we’ll have seen more of LeBron James than any other NBA player in the league’s history. That’s wild. That’s nearly 1,000 hours of basketball on an NBA court — and counting. And we’re not even counting all the playoff minutes or the minutes played for Team USA during the summer.
The common refrain was that many casual league observers didn’t start paying attention to it until after the All-Star Break in late February. That’s because many NBA teams and stars don’t take the early portions of the season all that seriously themselves. You should compare November to April basketball yourself someday soon when you get the time. The difference is night and day.
So, here’s a tournament like the NBA Cup with fancy, temporary courts and gaudy jerseys designed to add an extra competitive edge to the part of the year when many squads are still clearly easing their way into the action.
Sounds simple and straightforward, right?
As we enter the knockout rounds of the 2024 NBA Cup, Silver and his cronies failed to account for a significant loophole in the proceedings. As it stands, the 22 NBA teams who don’t qualify for the knockout rounds essentially get almost a week off, just about six weeks into the regular season.
In effect, this schedule loophole directly contradicts what the NBA Cup was trying to prevent.
Look at the below schedule. The next non-NBA Cup game isn’t until Thursday, December 12! The overwhelming majority of the league already eliminated from this year’s Cup play is getting three, four, or even five days off right before the holiday season. And because the NBA is trying to center the remaining Cup teams with a bigger spotlight, it can’t meaningfully shift around the schedule to mitigate this gap. It doesn’t want non-Cup teams playing when the quarterfinals are happening.
We cannot underestimate how valuable this is to NBA players who play games every other night, play back-to-backs, and travel cross-country all the time.
None of them were born yesterday because they can see how the schedule shakes out in advance:
This isn’t to say that NBA teams want to deliberately miss their chances at winning the Cup. I’m sure some measure of the cash prize motivates many squads, especially those with younger players who have yet to earn lucrative contracts. They’re not going to stop trying altogether.
But put yourself in the shoes of a head coach or superstar for a second.
If it’s mid-November and your team is nursing some light injuries before an NBA Cup group stage matchup, are you really gonna go all out there when you’re trying to play the long game and compete in the spring for the Larry O’Brien Trophy?
If it’s mid-November and your thin-depth hopeful title contender team (like, say, the Denver Nuggets) is trying to get off to a good start by playing everyone heavy early-season minutes, maybe you look at the NBA Cup schedule and realize you get a built-in break that makes that bold, development plan easier to institute if you miss out on the knockout rounds.
If you’re a reigning champion like the Boston Celtics, why not get more rest now as you plan to play two extra months of basketball later this season? There are bigger fish to fry.
If you’re a veteran team with older stars like the Los Angeles Lakers or Phoenix Suns, wouldn’t you want a week of rest instead? Remember that if you go all the way, you’re also playing an extra 83rd regular-season game, which doesn’t count in the standings, either.
Oof.
Perhaps I’m being too cynical. Maybe NBA players care a lot more about the NBA Cup than I realize. I’m willing to hear arguments to the contrary.
But I’ve seen enough patterns from league organizations already to suggest they understand there aren’t any real consequences for failing to advance to the knockout rounds. (Not that there should be; that would be silly, too.) If anything, they know that if they fall short of the Cup early, they get a massive benefit of rest that is extremely rare within the context of the entire season.
This Cup schedule gap is something the NBA will, unfortunately, never be able to account for. I don’t think players and coaches want the league to figure it out, either.
HoopsHype examines how some of the NBA’s biggest starts are performing after taking part in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Although the Olympics are viewed as the top international tournament for basketball players and a huge honor to participate in, playing there is still a sacrifice that could have negative consequences, particularly for NBA players coming off of strenuous 82-game seasons plus long playoff runs.
Some of those players’ 2023-24 seasons ended in May or early June, giving them a short turnaround before the Olympic basketball tournament started in late July, ending in August. There were also pre-tournament exhibition games in which those players had to partake. Those same players then had to return to their NBA teams in late September for the start of training camp.
That’s a whole lot of basketball without much rest.
Let’s see how some of the game’s biggest stars are performing after such a tough year of nonstop basketball.
