Dalton Knecht, the sophomore sharpshooter for the Los Angeles Lakers, struggled in his first two games of the California Classic over the weekend. But on Tuesday, he returned to form and flexed his potential.
Against the San Antonio Spurs, he scored 25 points and went 9-of-18 from the field and 4-of-8 from 3-point range. Fifteen of his points came in the fourth quarter when the Lakers overcame what was once a 14-point deficit to squeak out an 89-88 victory.
Knecht also had eight rebounds in 29 minutes. Forward Cole Swider, who was hot in the team’s first two games, cooled down and only hit two of his nine 3-point attempts on Tuesday. He did contribute three blocks and two steals, however.
Meanwhile, Bronny James made one of his five shot attempts and finished with two points, two steals, one rebound, one assist and three turnovers.
One man who also shone brightly for L.A. was Darius Bazley, a 6-foot-9 forward the team added to its summer league roster. He went for 27 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field and 10-of-12 from the free throw line, and he also snatched 13 rebounds and rejected two shots.
Bazley, 25, has appeared in 237 NBA games over five seasons since entering the league in 2019 as the No. 23 pick in the draft. During the 2020-21 season, he averaged 13.7 points and 7.2 rebounds a game for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Next for the Lakers is the main Las Vegas summer league, which they will start on Thursday with a contest versus Cooper Flagg and the Dallas Mavericks.
