Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves sent a strong message to teammate Dalton Knecht before playing the Denver Nuggets on Friday night. 

And Knecht, a former Tennessee Vols standout, applied that message. 

Los Angeles was without several notable players on Friday night — Luka Doncic, LeBron James, Rui Hachimura, Jaxson Hayes, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Gabe Vincent were all sidelined in the Lakers’ 131-126 loss to the Nuggets. 

As a result, Reaves told Knecht before the game that the Lakers needed him to shoot as much as possible against Denver. 

“I told him at the huddle, I said ‘hey, if you want to shoot it, shoot, I don’t care if you shoot it 35 times, we’re going to need every bucket you can get’,” said Reaves to reporters after the game. “He’s a hooper. He’s someone who likes to compete. He plays hard as s–t. Not everybody’s perfect, he makes some mistakes and gets through them. And he’s one of the better — I don’t know if y’all would call him young — shot makers I’ve seen. He has a high release that doesn’t get blocked much and he makes difficult shots.” 

Knecht didn’t shoot it 35 times, but he came close. The former Tennessee guard, who played 37 minutes against the Nuggets, connected on 13-of-27 attempts from the field (including 5-of-13 from beyond the arc) while on his way to scoring 32 points (which was just five points shy of the rookie’s career high of 37 points). 

“AR (Reaves) tells me all the time, he texted me throughout my college career and gave me advice,” said Knecht when asked about Reaves’ comments. “And now that we’re on the same team, he’s been pretty much my main vet that I can go to and talk to and he has my back 100 percent….having a guy like that to help me and be super confident in me, it means a lot.” 

Knecht’s role has varied all season depending on the Lakers’ lineup. But that hasn’t stopped the former Vol from excelling when his number’s been called.