EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — The signs were there that Dalton Knecht would be a solid NBA player.

He scored 40 points against Kentucky in his regular-season finale as a fifth-year senior at Tennessee. He followed it up two weeks later with 37 points against Purdue in his last college game ever.

But nobody could predict what Knecht would do for the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday in his 14th NBA game.

He scored 37 points and tied an NBA rookie record with nine three-pointers as the Lakers fended off the Utah Jazz, 124-118, in front of a jubilant Crypto.com Arena crowd.

Knecht was absolutely sublime in the third quarter, scoring 21 points while making all six of his three-point attempts. It was one of the greatest Lakers rookie efforts ever. And everyone knew it.

“He was phenomenal tonight… Man, he’s special to watch,” Lakers center Anthony Davis said. “He for sure put the league on notice.”

LA improved to 10-4, a strong and surprising start for a team that finished seventh in the Western Conference last season and did little to change the roster in the off-season — with the exception of one key addition.

Knecht had a successful one-year run at Tennessee after two years at Northeastern junior college in Colorado, followed by two years at the University of Northern Colorado.

Then a funny thing happened last June in the NBA draft. He was supposed to be the sixth or seventh player selected, but the so-called pundits weren’t even close with their prognostications. He kept slipping and slipping… and slipping.

Lucky for the Lakers, Knecht was there when it was their turn to pick with the 17th overall selection. Knecht had one fan in particular who watched quite a few of his college games last season.

“I watched Tennessee a lot,” LeBron James said. “I did not think he was going to fall to us. I thought it would be impossible. I have no idea how that happened, but very grateful and very happy that he’s here. I knew exactly what we was getting when he fell to 17.”

Knecht had a quiet first few weeks as an NBA rookie but heated up quickly over the last week. He scored 19 points against Memphis, 14 against San Antonio, 27 against New Orleans and then came Tuesday’s outburst.

The Lakers’ JJ Redick, a rookie in his own right as a first-year NBA coach, played in the NBA for 15 years primarily as a sharpshooter. He’d witnessed Knecht’s recent ascension, often behind closed doors at the Lakers’ training facility.

“You watch a guy in shooting drills, you watch a guy in small group games, you watch a guy in pickup [games] for a few weeks and it’s obvious he’s a shot-maker,” Redick said. “We’re happy for Dalton. As a shooter, it’s fun to watch a guy who can get hot like that.”

The Lakers needed almost every one of his points against an underwhelming Utah team.

Davis and James each scored 26 points but the Jazz would not go away and made things cozier than expected with a 43-point fourth quarter. Lauri Markkanen led the way with 25 points for Utah, which fell to 3-11 this season. In the end, though, there was simply too much Knecht.

“I just caught fire, and I just kept letting that thing fly,” he told Spectrum SportsNet. “Right when I step across half court when I get the ball, it’s going in. That’s what I feel like.”