The NBA Draft Lottery is done, and now the official draft order is set. The Atlanta Hawks were awarded the No. 1 overall pick on Sunday afternoon, beating the odds to secure the top pick for the first time in franchise history.
The Wizards, Rockets, Spurs and Pistons will round out the top five.
So now, where will Dalton Knecht land? We’ve seen projections as high as No. 3 overall, all the way down to the mid-teens. The 6-6 sharpshooter is thought of as a plug and play offensive threat, coming off of a huge season at Tennessee. In the latest mock draft from ESPN, Knecht is projected to go inside of the top ten.
After addressing their point guard situation with the No. 4 pick, it might make sense for the Spurs to look at adding shooting to their roster to give Victor Wembanyama ample spacing to maximize his offensive gifts. The Spurs surely have eyes on being competitive sooner rather than later with Wembanyama about to become an MVP candidate in the near future, so picking a 23-year old plug-and-play shooter/scorer such as Knecht looks like an attractive option. His defensive shortcomings can be mitigated to an extent playing behind a future Defensive Player of the Year like Wembanyama. — Givony (ESPN)
After mocking Kentucky point guard Kenny Dillingham to San Antonio with the fourth overall pick, Givony comes back and adds Knecht to give the Spurs a really fun, young core. Those two would join Victor Wembanyama, who took home rookie of the year honors this season.
Knecht averaged 21.7 points per game at Tennessee, which was even more impressive considering the jump in competition level coming from Northern Colorado. He shot 39 percent from three-point range, carrying the Volunteers to an SEC regular season title. Knecht also took home SEC Player of the Year honors.
He’ll now go through the NBA Combine, which takes place this week in Chicago. You can see Knecht and the other 77 prospects in action on Tuesday and Wednesday on ESPN2. They’ll have coverage from 1 p.m. ET to 5 p.m. ET.
