Lakers preseason opener: Bronny James narrowly avoids scoreless debut as Dalton Knecht steals show

Bronny James made his NBA debut in the Los Angeles Lakers‘ 124-107 preseason-opening loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday, but it was a pair of other rookies who stole the show. Minnesota’s Rob Dillingham poured in 21 points, while Dalton Knecht finished with 16 for the Lakers, including a pair of 3-pointers. 

Knecht, the sharp-shooting 23-year-old who fell to Los Angeles at No. 17, was seven for his first nine from the floor. Hopefully this sort of aggression will continue when LeBron James and Anthony Davis, both of whom sat this one out, are on the floor, because Knecht can really help the Lakers as a shot-hunter and microwave scorer off the bench. 

Knecht scored from all three levels on Friday, beginning with pull-up midrange jumper off a curl route.

Here the ball is barely in his hands before he’s splashing a 3 in transition. 

Don’t forget that Knecht is 6-foot-9 with a 39-inch vertical leap. This is not just a standstill shooter. Here, he catches on the baseline and gets off the ground quickly to slam it home through contact. 

Bronny James looks shaky

James needed until the game’s final minute to record his first bucket — a lefty scoop layup off a broken play after an 0-for-5 start to his preseason. 

James looked noticeably nervous in his first stint of action. The first pass he made, a basic wing entry to get the offense started, was nearly intercepted, and the second pass he made was intercepted. However, Bronny was able to get a recovery block out of the deal. 

James recored a second block shortly thereafter with a well-timed swipe from behind, then punctuated the sequence by finding Rui Hachimura on the other end for a corner 3 and his first preseason assist. 

Bronny did not look terribly comfortable offensively. He finished 1 of 6 from the field and tossed up an airball on an awkward baseline attempt. But he did establish a bit of rhythm as the game went along. The pass to Hachimura in transition was simple, but it was the right play, on time and target, and this was a sweet hockey-assist dump-off from the high post as the start of a tic-tac-toe bucket. 

Rob Dillingham is a bucket

Dillingham, a 6-1 guard who was taken by the San Antonio Spurs at No. 8 overall and then traded to the Timberwolves, looked like he’s been in the league for a decade. Confident would be an understatement. This dude has the ball on a string and is ready to pull the trigger at a nanosecond’s notice. He has easy NBA range and his runner is feathery. 

In fact, Dillingham’s runner conversion rate ranked in the 88th percentile as a freshman at Kentucky, per Synergy Sports — and his catch-and-shoot number was in the 98th percentile. We’ll see how the defense holds up, but he looks like he will be a potentially electric scorer, at least in stretches, from the jump. 

Minnesota desperately needed shot-creation from sources other than Anthony Edwards last postseason, and Dillingham certainly looks like he’ll eventually be able to provide assistance in that area.