Dalton Knecht ties NBA record for most three-pointers in a game by a rookie

Dalton Knecht (YouTube)

Basketball history was made on Tuesday in the Los Angeles Lakers’s 124-118 win over the Utah Jazz at crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California. Lakers small forward Dalton Knecht of Fargo, North Dakota made nine three-point shots, and in the process tied the NBA record for the most three point shots made by a rookie in a single game.

The other three players to accomplish the feat are Dallas Mavericks point guard Rodrigue Beaubois of Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe, Mavericks point guard Yogi Ferrell of Indianapolis, Indiana, and Utah Jazz point guard Keyonte George of Lewisville, Texas according to Jack Baer of Yahoo! Sports. Beaubois made nine three pointers in 11 attempts in a 111-90 Mavericks win over the Golden State Warriors on March 27, 2010. What was most impressive about Beaubois’s performance is that he scored 40 points off the bench. That is the most points by a reserve player in one game in Mavericks’s franchise history. Meanwhile, Ferrell also made nine three-pointers in 11 attempts in a 108-104 Dallas win over the Portland Trail Blazers on February 3, 2017, and George made nine three pointers in 16 attempts in a 140-137 Jazz loss to the Golden State Warriors on February 15, 2024.

Knecht made his nine three-point shots in 12 attempts. He also made 12 of 16 field goal attempts, and four of five free throw attempts. Knecht finished the game with a career-high 37 points, five rebounds, one steal, and was a +18.

On the season, Knecht is averaging 11.3 points per game, 2.5 rebounds per game, and 1.1 assists per game. He also had a field goal percentage of .523, three-point percentage of .464, and a free throw percentage of .923.

Interestingly, everyone knows that Bronny James (LeBron’s son) was drafted in the second round by the Lakers in the 2024 NBA Draft. Now we know about Knecht, the Lakers’s first round pick, 17th overall, out of the University of Tennessee.

With the win, the Lakers are in third place in the Western Conference with a record of 10 wins and four losses. They are currently only one game back of conference leaders–the Golden State Warriors and Oklahoma City Thunder.