Charlotte Hornets forward Kon Knueppel tries to follow New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson.
Charlotte Hornets forward Kon Knueppel was at the 2026 NBA Finals as a player correspondent and the Duke product asked New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson a question before Game 5.
Knueppel wanted to know what Brunson believed were the key attributes of a winning player.
"I think the one thing that stays constant with all that is I've always told myself and always been taught by my parents to never be afraid to fail," Brunson said, via The Athletic. "If you do fail, you're going to learn anyway."
Knueppel admires Brunson's mentality and tries to emulate that mindset in Charlotte.
"He's not afraid to be like, 'I'm gonna go make a play. I'm gonna make an aggressive play. And if I make a mistake, it's gonna be an aggressive mistake.' He's not afraid to lose. And to win, you can't be afraid to lose."
The Knicks won the 2026 championship and Brunson won Finals MVP. Brunson is now part of a small group of players who have won a high school state championship, an NCAA title, the Naismith College Player of the Year Award, an NBA championship and NBA Finals MVP.
Even though Knueppel didn't win the 2026 Rookie of the Year Award, he still had a special season for the Hornets. The swingman averaged 18.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game and shot 47.5% from the field, 42.5% from 3 and 86.3% from the free-throw line. He led the NBA in 3s.
Knueppel claimed the first four Rookie of the Month awards this season, becoming the first Hornet ever to win the award four times. Here is what else the rookie accomplished this season, via the Hornets:
- At age 20, became the only player in NBA history age 22 or younger to record 250 3PM in a season against New York (March 26).
- Passed Michael Jordan for the NBA rookie record for most games with 20+ points on 65% true shooting (27) against Miami (March 6) in his then-rookie-leading 14th 25-point game.
- Set an NBA rookie record for 3-pointers made in a season (207) with a career-high-tying and franchise-rookie-record-tying 8 3PM at Indiana (Feb. 26); Knueppel tied his own franchise rookie record.
- Set a new NBA record for most games with 5+ 3PM by a rookie with 14 at Atlanta (Feb. 7).
- Broke the rookie record for most games with 20+ points on 50/40/90 shooting splits (12) against Golden State (Dec. 31), previously set by Stephen Curry.
- Knueppel is one of three rookies in NBA history (min. 25 games played) to average 15 points and 5 rebounds per game and shoot 40% from 3-point range; the other two are Larry Bird and Paul Pierce.
Hornets Roundtable also offers a fan community and message board. We’d love to have you join us to talk all things Hornets. Click the “Join” button at the top of the page to join our community for free.
