Charles Barkley upset NBA general managers for dropping Dalton Knecht in the draft

Former Tennessee star Dalton Knecht made his NBA regular-season debut on Wednesday night, scoring five points, two assists and one rebound in 16 minutes of play in the Los Angeles Lakers' 110-103 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

It was a solid debut for Knecht as he made two of four field goal attempts and one of three attempts from three-point range.

But the most entertaining part of Knecht's first night in the pros was Charles Barkley criticizing NBA general managers for passing up the reigning SEC Player of the Year to the Lakers in the draft.

“First of all, these NBA general managers have no idea what they’re doing,” Barkley said on TNT’s “Inside the NBA.” “Letting the Lakers get Dalton Knecht was one of the stupidest things I've ever seen. That's a bad boy. Dalton Knecht, remember this name.”

The Lakers selected the former Tennessee superstar with the 17th pick in the 2024 NBA Draft earlier this summer. Most draft experts assumed someone would take Knecht in the top 10 of the draft. But Knecht kept getting into the draft because of his age, among other things, before the Lakers finally took him off the board.

More from RTI: Recap of Dalton Knecht's preseason performances before the NBA season begins

Knecht was a superstar in his only season at Tennessee, averaging 21.7 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. He was even better in SEC play, where he averaged 25.5 points per game on 48% shooting from the field and 42% from three-point range.

The 6-foot-6 shooting guard was a scoring superstar, scoring 40 points once, 35-plus points six times, 30-plus points seven times and 25-plus points 13 times during his All-American season.

Barkley is all too familiar with Knecht's scoring abilities, as the Thornton, Colorado native had perhaps his best game of the season against Barkley's Tigers. Knecht scored a total of 39 points on 10 of 22 shooting, including an incredible second half in No. 4 Tennessee's 92-84 win over No. 11 Auburn in Knoxville.

Knecht delivered an outstanding preseason with the Lakers to build his hype ahead of his rookie season. The shooting guard averaged 18 points and 4.2 rebounds per game in the preseason.