Is Kon Knueppel the NBA’s rookie of the year? Hornets chime in on award race
Always more about the team than individual accolades, Kon Knueppel couldn’t help but acknowledge the trajectory.
Despite being a newbie in the NBA and everything that comes along with it, the Charlotte Hornets’ rising rookie looks as composed as a veteran at times. It’s part of the reason Knueppel leads the league in made 3-pointers, knocking down 268 leading into the home regular-season finale against the Detroit Pistons at Spectrum Center on Friday.
Just 12 months ago, Knueppel was preparing for the NBA draft. Now, he’s among the upper echelon of one of the most notable statistics in a league full of sharpshooters.
“It’s cool,” Knueppel said. “Yeah, it’s definitely cool to be up there with a bunch of really talented players. You still think about ones that you still want to make and are in a little bit of a shooting slump right now. But I’m always going to be aggressive, and I’m still going to get them up, so, it’s all water levels.
“But it’s definitely cool.”
Knueppel is in the midst of wrapping up his first regular season, one that could propel him to grab a significant piece of individual hardware in a few weeks: the NBA’s rookie of the year award. After all, he did earn Eastern Conference rookie of the month honors for four straight months to begin his career, becoming the first player in franchise history to win it that many times and the first in the NBA to do it since fellow Duke product and Orlando star Paolo Banchero in 2022-23.
Rattling off Knueppel’s list of accomplishments takes a while. It’s rather extensive.
The 20-year-old became the only player in NBA history younger than age 22 to sink 250 made 3-pointers in a season. He surpassed Hornets minority owner Michael Jordan for the NBA rookie record for most games with 20 or more points on 65% true shooting.
Knueppel, who’s already posted a career-high and franchise rookie record-tying eight 3-pointers, owns the NBA rookie record for 3-pointers made in a season (207) and became the fastest player in NBA history to reach 200 career made 3-pointers.
If that’s not enough, he set a new NBA rookie record for most games with five or more 3-pointers and is one of four players in the league this season — joining Houston’s Kevin Durant, Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards and Miami’s Andrew Wiggins — averaging 15 points and five rebounds per game while also connecting on 40% from 3-point land.
There’s more, but that’s a decent chunk of Knueppel’s feats. And his coach thinks it’s beyond enough to secure the award over the likes of Knueppel’s former teammate at Duke and No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg of the Dallas Mavericks.
“I understand why the race is tight,” coach Charles Lee said. “The rookie class this year has been pretty impressive. Flagg is one of the guys that’s up there, and I think that he’s shown some good moments. But I said it about a month ago, to me it’s not even close. I still feel that way.
“I think that this period of time has shown it even more, when you have a guy that’s been as productive as Kon has been, when he’s been as consistent as he is, and as efficient as he’s been on a playoff-caliber team. I think that’s pretty impressive.”
Lee’s glowing praise of Knueppel wasn’t done. He continued his case.
“There’s things that show historically what he’s been able to do as a rookie,” Lee said, “but then there’s even some stats if you dive even deeper into the advanced stats and stuff, he’s just one of the best players in the NBA — not even just as a rookie
“So, I can go on and on, but I think that he has definitely made his case just from a production, consistency and efficiency perspective, and also impacting winning games.”
The Charlotte Observer spoke with Hornets president of basketball operations Jeff Peterson, LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller and Coby White to get their takes on why Knueppel should be deemed the NBA’s 2025-26 rookie of the year.
Jeff Peterson
“I think the numbers speak for themselves,” Peterson said. “He’s the most efficient rookie, or one of them, in X amount of years. I don’t think people realize, No. 1, how hard it is to make the NBA, but how hard it is for a rookie to come in and do this.
“And this is a very good class. Obviously, Cooper Flagg is amazing. Dylan Harper’s really, really good. You know, he doesn’t get the same opportunity as some of these other guys. VJ Edgecome, I can go down the list. This is a very good class. But again, I think his numbers speak for themselves.”
Peterson recalled a particular instance that stood out.
“Most people think, ‘Oh, he’s just a shooter,”’ Peterson said. “My favorite play from Kon this year is we were playing against Portland here. There’s kind of a loose ball, and he runs over in front of their bench and essentially beats two and a half, three guys off the Trail Blazers to get a loose ball and saves it I think to Brandon. Brandon passed it to LaMelo for an open three. I know he would agree with this: If he wins rookie of the year, great. If he doesn’t, those are the types of plays that will continue to elevate this franchise, because it’s not all about scoring or making a flashy play.
“He’s going to dive on the floor for this ball. And then you add on the efficiency stuff, and it’s pretty, pretty impressive. So, it’s pretty rare for a rookie where he doesn’t press, he doesn’t force things, takes what the defense has given to him. So, just a testimonial really to his approach, his mindset. And I think he learned a lot of that growing up from his parents, playing early on. So, it’s been really good to see from that standpoint.”
Brandon Miller
“Obviously, he’s a great shooter, great basketball player,” Miller said. “But without the confidence and elite guys around him, I don’t think you really get anywhere that far. So just being a leader of any category, I feel like that’s a great achievement and a good confidence booster. It puts you in the right places, right mindset to obviously compete at the highest level, but make an impact.
“I’ve been saying it since Day 1. Obviously, the work has been showing, but his availability, his confidence level has shot up through the roof. So, just having that confidence to come here, and playing at the highest level and actually making an impact at the highest level, I’d say that’s why he’s the rookie of the year.”
Coby White
“Honestly, you can never not look at the winning part of it,” White said. “It’s hard. Especially coming from last year being a 19-win season and then this year coming in obviously having a chance to win 45 games and him being a part of that. But also just his consistency, his efficiency. The thing that I admire the most and I think the thing that stands out to me the most and that has impressed me is that, obviously, he shoots the cover off the ball.
“But when you’re a rookie, and you start the season the way he did, teams are going to start to adjust very quickly to how he’s getting those shots and stuff like that. Since I’ve been here, he showed he’s more than just a shooter, he’s a two-way player. He can play in the mid-range, he can get to the basket, he can get to the free throw line. And I still think his game is still evolving, but I still think when you hold those to accountability I think he’s a clear-cut rookie of the year.”
White, a career 36.8% shooter from 3-point range, also points to the difficulty of Knueppel leading the league in made shots beyond the arc.
“It’s tough, it’s tough,” White said. “When teams start to adjust to you, they’re trying to intentionally run you off the 3-point line. For him to continue to evolve and figure out ways to get his shots off, and figure out ways to move without a ball, the degree of shots coming off screens, coming off pin-downs, it’s just super impressive.
“Obviously, they try to run him on the line, but he’s creative in ways of finding space and getting to the open space to get a shot off. And then he’s one of those guys, too, that no matter what shots he takes, you think it is going in. So, yeah, like I said, that’s been the most impressive part to me.”
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LaMelo Ball
“I feel like he just he did it all,” Ball said. “Consistent the whole season helping the team win for real. He’s a great player and just overall he does what you need him to do.”
Ball also appreciates Knueppel’s ability to spread the floor with his 3-point shot and understands it’s no easy feat, given he’s second in the league to Knueppel in made 3s with 261.
“Anything as a rookie is challenging,” Ball said, “so for him to just even have his name anywhere it’s amazing.”
