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Wednesday’s game was the perfect chance for head coach Mike Brown to have Dalton Knecht make his Knicks debut.
After being waived by the Los Angeles Lakers, New York signed Knecht to a two-way contract nearly two weeks ago and the 25-year-old had been playing with the Westchester Knicks in the NBA G League to learn the team’s systems and get consistent playing time.
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With the Knicks facing the 1-6 Chicago Bulls at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night, the team decided to make Knecht active to possibly get him into the game. So when the small forward checked in for Andre Drummond with 3:20 left in the second quarter and New York up 70-39, he was ready.
“I wasn’t surprised, I just came in ready to go,” Knecht said after the game. “The coaches said you’re active so that just means be ready.”
Knecht got off to a great start less than a minute into his Knicks debut by following a three-point miss by Landry Shamet, grabbing the offensive rebound and slamming it home for a putback dunk that got the MSG crowd buzzing.
“It was great. Honestly I didn’t hear much just because I’m so locked in, but it was good,” Knecht said about his nifty play. “Pretty much my first play was a putback dunk so it’s cool, it’s great.”
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Along with his high-flying highlight, Knecht had 10 points on 4-for-6 from the field, including two threes, and grabbed seven boards in just 16 minutes. He also had an assist and a block, looking good and reminding everybody why he was the 17th overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.
“I think I just go out there and impact the game on all three levels,” Knecht said. “And I just wanna show on the other side of the ball, getting the ball pressure and stuff like that and going in and grabbing defensive rebounds.”
It’s hard to glean too much from Knecht’s performance with it coming in a blowout against the hapless Bulls, but it’s still good to see the talent is there. After all, in his rookie season, Knecht averaged 9.1 points and 2.8 rebounds in 19.2 minutes per game before taking a step back last season.
It’s unclear how Brown plans to utilize Knecht this season, but as he gets more comfortable…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/dalton-knecht-came-ready-knicks-044643994.html
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Publish date : 2026-11-05 04:46:00
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