2024 NBA Draft: LA Lakers, Detroit Pistons, among biggest winners and losers

Winner: The Los Angeles Lakers, Dalton Knecht and their newly acquitted father-son duo.

The Los Angeles Lakers found themselves in good fortune on day one of the NBA Draft, landing the 2024 SEC POY Dalton Knecht out of Tennessee at pick No. 17 -- a pick where few expected Knecht to be available. 

Knecht, who averaged an awe-striking 21.7 PPG, 4.9 RPG and 1.8 APG at Tennessee, found himself in the top 10 in many NBA Mock Drafts. After starting his collegiate career in the JUCO ranks at Northeastern (CO) Junior College, Knecht would transfer to the Division I level, spending two seasons at Northern Colorado before finishing his college career at Tennessee, where he catapulted himself at the forefront of the college basketball scene.

Reasons for Dalton Knecht's slide vary (age, concerns on defense) but the silver lining is clear: The Los Angeles Lakers landed a talent that should fit instantaneously into the NBA. 

In other Lakers news, perhaps one of the bigger -- if not biggest -- headlines of the 2024 Draft, was where Bronny James would end up. Fate is fate, and Bronny James is off to sport the purple and gold alongside his father, LeBron James, marking the first father-son duo in NBA history.