According to Tennessee Athletics, Dalton Knecht became the ninth-highest drafted player in University of Tennessee men’s basketball history Wednesday night, as he went No. 17 overall to the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2024 NBA Draft.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced Knecht’s name at 8:58 p.m. at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., live on ABC and ESPN. He was the 11th collegian selected, including the third from the SEC.
The highest-drafted Volunteer since Marcus Haislip went No. 13 in 2002, Knecht is the 10th top-20 pick in Tennessee history and the first since Tobias Harris went No. 19 in 2011. He is the 54th total NBA Draft choice from Tennessee, including the 16th in the top 30 and the 12th in the first round.
Three prior Volunteers have been drafted by the Lakers, two of whom were chosen when the team played in Minneapolis. Knecht joins Doug Atkins (No. 119 in 1953), Carl Widseth (No. 83 in 1956) and A.W. Davis (No. 43 in 1965) on that list.
During his lone season at Tennessee as a fifth-year guard, Knecht led the SEC in scoring at 21.7 points per game, good for eighth-best in the country.
The SEC Player of the Year and Julius Erving Award designee, Knecht collected consensus First Team All-America status, becoming the fourth Volunteer ever to do so. The runner-up for Associated Press National Player of the Year and a finalist for both the Naismith Trophy and Wooden Award, Knecht became the first SEC player since Shaquille O’Neal (Feb. 1991) to record back-to-back 35-point games.
This is the fourth consecutive year a Tennessee player has been selected in the NBA Draft. Just nine other colleges entered 2024 with at least a three-year streak.