New Lakers guard Dalton Knecht clutched the game ball in his locker after dominating the final minutes of the Lakers’ overtime win Thursday in Phoenix, a proud moment for someone who is no stranger to dominating a game .

“This felt just like Auburn,” he said with a smile, recalling last season’s game in which he scored 39 points in a win over Tennessee’s SEC rival.

But the differences weren’t actually that subtle.

That game at Auburn? It didn’t come with LeBron James and Anthony Davis egging Knecht on the sidelines after he metaphorically caught fire. It didn’t happen when one of the NBA’s best shooters ever, Reggie Miller, was on the air. It didn’t happen that Knecht’s all-time favorite player, Kevin Durant, was on the other end encouraging him to keep going.

It didn’t happen, preseason or not, as a Los Angeles Laker.

As he walked onto the court in overtime after putting the Lakers back in the game, Durant found Knecht on the court and gave him a message that may have been even more valuable than the game ball.

“Go take over the game,” he told the rookie.

His future Hall of Fame teammates had just given him the same advice.

‘Bron and AD said: ‘It’s time.’ So it was just time to take over,” said Knecht.

It solidified the early praise received by Knecht, who looks like he will undoubtedly be part of the team’s rotation outside of training camp.

“Reggie (Miller) and I were talking about it before the game and he said, ‘It’s a great honor to say he’s in the 1 percent of shooters.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, he’s one of the 1 percent of shooters,'” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “The thing about him is just the mentality. It was very clear before the season training camp and so far in competitions he has no fear. He is not afraid of the moment.

“That was a show he put on.”

Lakers guard Dalton Knecht celebrates a three-pointer with star teammate Anthony Davis during the fourth quarter in Phoenix on Thursday night.

(Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press)

The showing — 35 points, including a stretch where he scored 20 in a row late in the fourth quarter and in overtime — certainly makes it look like the Lakers got a steal in the draft. Knecht was dropped to No. 17 on the team because of concerns about his age and defensive limitations, league officials say.

And the questions about Knecht’s defense, coaches and teammates say, won’t be impossible to answer thanks to his coachability and desire for improvement.

“The way he shoots the ball and the way he listens, like you say, ‘Dalton, do this,’ he’s going to do it. Like no ifs, ands, buts, said Austin Reaves. “No, ‘I thought it was this, I thought it was that.’ As you say, ‘be low (on defense), go vertical.’ That’s what he’s going to do. So it’s good to have that quality and because, like I said, he can shoot the ball the way he does, sometimes it’s going to be hard for him not to be on the ground. Apparently he works hard defensively every day to get better. He asks questions, and that’s all you can ask of a rookie.

The Lakers took a long look at Knecht this fall. He leads the Lakers in minutes and averages 10 three-point attempts per game. Before Thursday, he was shooting just 27%. He missed a potential equalizer earlier in the preseason against the Suns.

“Just those moments that you dream about as a child, and you can see that he wants those moments. He wants the shot he missed, I think it was Palm Springs, right? To bind it. You could see in the locker room how much, you know, that shot meant to him,” Reavers said. “He was angry. You could tell by the way he looked that he wasn’t happy with himself. And that is a very good quality to have.”

The Lakers and Redick already seemed committed to him before he showed the kind of scoring ability that made him one of college basketball’s big stories last season.

“He just has a mental toughness,” Redick said. “And whether it is about the offensive recovery, the competitiveness on defense. He tries. He has some things to learn and get better at, but he’s trying. And honestly, sometimes that’s half the battle.”

And on Thursday, he got his first real moment as a pro — with Durant, James, Davis and others watching.

“It was surreal watching him go out there in that second half and put in a performance like that. It was… I almost made a hole-in-one the other day. I hit the pin and loved the excitement I had then, like I had it the whole fourth quarter,” Reaves said. “So it’s beautiful. You see how much work he puts in every day. He chases people after training to shoot. So tip your hat to such a man. And you know, I honestly expected all those shots to go in.