From wearing blue and gold as a UNC Bear to purple and gold as a Los Angeles Laker, Dalton Knecht, 鈥�23, (pronounced 鈥榗onnect鈥�) has hit the jackpot with the opportunity he鈥檚 walking into to begin his professional basketball career.
On June 26, 2024, Knecht was drafted 17th overall by the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the most storied organizations in all of professional sports.
Less than 18 months after playing his last home game in Bank of Colorado Arena in Greeley, Knecht will play his first regular season NBA game in the famed Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles, previously known as the Staples Center. The arena that has iconic statues of NBA legends Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabar, Shaquille O鈥橬eal and the late Kobe Bryant is the same arena Knecht will call home for the foreseeable future.
Knecht鈥檚 journey to the NBA is truly a once-in-a-decade-type of story.
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