Kon Knueppel notches new career-best mark in Hornets’ loss to Chicago
During both phases of the $245 million renovation of Spectrum Center, the two-decade-old arena underwent several upgrades to enhance the experience.
Instead of adding sparkling new entryways, allowing patrons to be ushered into the festivities in a streamlined, expedited process, perhaps they should also have installed a couple of revolving doors. Because that’s what seems to happen with the arena’s main tenant: the Charlotte Hornets.
Keeping up the theme song that seems to accompany the franchise yearly, the Hornets welcomed a familiar face back on a night they were without several key members of their core.
After missing the initial seven weeks of the 2025-26 campaign rehabilitating his left shoulder following offseason surgery, Josh Green made his return to the lineup in the Hornets’ 129-126 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Friday night.
“It was good just to be able to compete again,” Green told The Charlotte Observer. “Happy to just try to bring as much energy as I can and just happy to play basketball again. So, it was exciting.”
Green’s first NBA game action since April got spoiled by the Hornets’ inability to close out the Bulls in the fourth quarter. They yielded 80 points in the paint overall, with a good chunk of them coming in the final 12 minutes, helping erase the Hornets’ 13-point edge.
Not even Kon Knueppel’s career-high 33 points could bail the Hornets out. Knueppel had an opportunity to square it at 127 with 10 seconds remaining, firing off a 27-footer.
At first, a foul was whistled on Zach Collins, providing Knueppel with the chance to close the gap. However, Bulls coach Billy Donovan challenged the call and won, handing the ball — and subsequently the game — to Chicago, which had lost its previous seven straight.
“I don’t think he got hit as he shot, but right after he hit his hand and he landed in his area,” coach Charles Lee said. “... We’ll hear the last two-minute report whether it was right or wrong. I want to keep fighting for our guys, and all those moments and all those calls are important. But if it gets reviewed and they still feel that way, the refs have a job to do.
“And so we, again, we can control some other things. Things you can’t control sometimes the officials or the calls that don’t go your way. But how we guard the ball, how we have the competitive response to just the individual product. Defense is the most important thing.”
Knueppel also has his thoughts on what went down.
“It’s disappointing to have it called on the floor,” Knueppel said. “But after watching the replay, I think they probably made the right call. It looked like it was after I released the ball. It’s a tough one, because it’s still one that kind of affects your shot, it affects your follow through. And so that’s tough.
“It’s just off target, but it’s disappointing to have it happen where they call it on the floor and they overturn it.”
Green wasn’t on the court at the end of the game, but at least Lee finally had him at his disposal again.
Coming off the bench, Green posted two points and an assist in 13 minutes, but it’s not truly about his numbers. At this point, he’s simply providing much-needed backcourt depth for a team minus the services of LaMelo Ball, Tre Mann and Collin Sexton.
And really, with all the offensive firepower and different scoring options the Hornets (7-18) possess, Green won’t be asked to fill up the bucket. As the trio of Kon Knueppel, Miles Bridges and Brandon Miller showed against Chicago, there’s more than enough on that side of the ball, as evidenced by the trio combining for 83 points and helping the Hornets grab that 13-point second-half edge.
Where Green can truly be of assistance in the long and short term centers around his biggest strength: digging in when the other team has the ball.
“It’s going to be really effective for us and helpful defensively,” Lee said, “because I think that he’s willing to take on some of those primary creator matchups, which is great. He brings a sense of physicality and knowledge of the game.”
Which certainly shouldn’t hurt. His addition may turn out to be a booster.
“Josh is great,” Bridges said. “He played for a Finals team, a lot of playoff teams, he has a lot of experience. And he’s been a great defender his whole career. It was great to have Josh back.”
Here are some of the key takeaways from the Hornets’ loss:
Brandon Miller looking better
Worried about Miller? Then his outing against the Bulls should quell some concerns — for a day or two at least.
Miller pumped in 18 points to go with five rebounds and four assists, marking his third straight game cracking double digits in the aftermath of resting his left shoulder for a pair of games. He was 10 for 34 in his previous two games and broke out of the mini slump, connecting on 8 of 22 attempts versus Chicago — though he did miss a pair of short jumpers in crunch time.
Any offensive struggles certainly weren’t bothering Miller on the other side of the court — the true mark of a two-way player. He swatted a pair of shots — emphatically, too.
“Brandon and I talked a little bit about him just continuing to make the right play,” Lee said. “I think that he’s obviously a really good shooter, he’s really a dynamic scorer. But there’s been moments where because he is so good, so dynamic teams are shifting a ton on him. And I thought he started the game in a great place of reading the shifts and seeing that low man help.
“And he kind of started the whole ball movement trend and helped us get great shot quality throughout the game. And I thought that actually opened it up for him to then get good looks later in the game. As he continues to come back from his injury, I know he will find that rhythm and knock down more shots. But he’s getting really good looks and I think that he’s also trying to play with the pass as well.”
Kon Knueppel gets his moment
That first piece of professional hardware is now in Knueppel’s possession.
Prior to netting those career-best 33 points against the Bulls, making 11 of 19 attempts from the floor that included a rare two-handed dunk in the first quarter, Knueppel stood at center court with Kia representative Keith Tooley. It was his latest moment in the spotlight, with Tooley officially presenting him with the Kia Eastern Conference rookie of the month for October/November.
“Yeah, it was cool,” Knueppel said. “I honestly didn’t know there was like a trophy for rookie of the month. But it was a cool thing right before the game.”
Knueppel has been impressive through 25 games, becoming the early favorite to claim rookie of the year honors in the spring. He entered the night tops among all rookies in total points and made 3-pointers, and is among the leaders in minutes played, made field goals, free throws, 3-point percentage, assists and rebounds.
Still, that doesn’t mean he’s completely flawless.
“Yeah, he forces shots sometimes, but it’s good for the most part,” Lee said with a smile. “He’s setting a tone for what he wants our identity to be. It’s really important to him that we are trusting one another, we’re trusting the past, that we are playing together for each other.
“He definitely believes in we over me and I think that that just shows with his game, and you have to model the behaviors you want your team to be about. So, I think that he does it at a high level, and it becomes contagious with our whole group.”
What’s up with LaMelo Ball, Tre Mann
Make that two straight games in street clothes for Ball and chalk up another one for Mann, increasing his string of missed outings to five.
Ball is nursing a left ankle bone bruise, which is a different injury than the right ankle impingement that sidelined him for seven games in November. Mann is dealing with a right knee bone bruise.
It’s unclear whether either will be available in Cleveland on Sunday.
“They are both progressing really well,” Lee said. “So, Tre has been able to do some individual work. He’s also hopped into some of the non-contact portions of practice. We’ll continue to see how he responds to some of this workload from the last couple days.
“And Melo has done better and better every day, mostly individual work right now with not a lot of contact. So, he’ll continue to progress. It’s good to have a couple of these days right here where they can really dive into their rehab plan without any travel or anything or games. And so we’ll see how things go after practice (Saturday).”
This story was originally published December 12, 2025 at 9:47 PM with the headline "Kon Knueppel notches new career-best mark in Hornets’ loss to Chicago."
