The Charlotte Hornets beat the Phoenix Suns on April 2, and when the dust settled the story was a 20-year-old rookie who had just broken one of the franchise's rookie three-point records. Kon Knueppel got the ball, got the look, and ended the night as the latest face of a Hornets rebuild that is moving a lot faster than most of the league expected.
Knueppel, calm in front of the cameras in a way rookies usually are not, made the entire conversation about the team around him.
"I think especially with the with the team success, it's been real fun to, you know, enjoy some of that individual success as well. Um, you know, really turning this thing around. Um, and having the season we're having, um, really feeling the love from the fans, um, you know, has been great and has in turn, you know, uh, you know, encouraged us and and helped us play better basketball."
The moment that will live in Charlotte lore was not the shot itself. It was a private message from the franchise's most beloved guard of the last decade. Before tip-off, Kemba Walker — the man whose rookie three-point mark was on the line — reached out directly.
"he told me before the game, he's like, 'Man, let's go get this one tonight.' Because of the previous two games, uh when I had one three combined. Um but I told him I told him, you know, a couple days ago that he should have shot more threes. Uh wasn't shooting enough threes when he was playing."
That kind of easy swagger between a former franchise All-Star and the current rookie breaking his record is the sort of detail that makes losing seasons feel different when the losing stops. Knueppel said he was aware of the number as he approached it, and he did not pretend otherwise.
"Yeah. Yeah, I did. Um but yeah, I mean I was a little disappointed because I had two really clean looks off of, you know, a couple a good a good pass from Seion and a nice kick out from Musa after a good offensive rebound. So, um, but yeah, I thought, you know, that that that last one Grant kicked out to me, it felt good."
The most illuminating answer of the session came when Knueppel was asked whether his season has matched his own expectations. His answer was unusual for a first-year player: he had doubted himself going in.
"Um, yeah. I mean, I think in the uh in the offseason, I didn't I didn't feel like I was playing that great. Um, you know, maybe the coaches disagree, but or the other players disagree, but I didn't feel like I was playing that great. So, you didn't I didn't really know. Uh uh but once we got to camp, like I just felt like I belonged. I felt felt good about how we played together. Um and so I thought, you know, I'd have an opportunity to really contribute this year. Um and I think maybe I've surpassed the my expectations for myself a little bit."
Knueppel spread the credit to his teammates, particularly Brandon Miller, who entered the night on a 54-game streak with a made three-pointer. He attributed Miller's streak equally to skill and to the work coach Charles Lee does drawing up sets.
"Yeah, I mean, you gota you gota you got to be consistent, you know. Um I think uh you know, credit to C Lee. He he draws up a lot of good stuff and Bran's really really dynamic um in those handoff and and and pin down situations. He really flies off those screens and shoots that bullet that that goes in. Um but you got to be really consistent and bring it on a nightly basis. So um obviously that's what Brandon does."
Lee himself, speaking in the room next door, framed Knueppel's breakthrough as part of a bigger organizational story about hitting on draft picks and identifying the right personalities.
"Khan, uh, extremely happy for him. Welldeserved honor. Um, the team didn't like that I said Kemba after. Um, but love Kemba, love the standard and and the bar he set. Um, but it was really cool obviously uh to see Khan throughout the year um continue to just get better and better."
"Yeah, it's a really special uh rookie class. I think that our front office has done a great job again identifying the right talent, the right people to bring in here um that are obsessed with daily improvement and the way that they carry the way that they carry themselves and handle their business. It it's at a very veteran level um early on, which is great to see."
Knueppel is not the only rookie Charlotte has bet correctly on, and this class, in Lee's view, is one of the things turning a chronic bottom-feeder into a team that can beat the Suns at home. The Hornets are not in the championship conversation. But when your rookie can set records, field texts from your franchise legend and credibly say he has exceeded his own expectations, a rebuild starts to feel like a plan.
