Charlotte Hornets rookie guard Kon Knueppel could end up breaking an NBA record this season.
When the Charlotte Hornets selected former Duke Blue Devils star Kon Knueppel with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, no one could have predicted what his first season would end up looking like.
From the very beginning of the season, it has been clear that Knueppel has legitimate star potential. He has not slowed down from the start of the year he put together.
Through his first 56 games, including 55 starts, Knueppel has averaged 19.1 points per game to go along with 5.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists, while also shooting 48.5 percent from the floor and 43.3 percent from three-point range.
Needless to say, those numbers have the Hornets excited about the future.
With that being said, Knueppel is also on pace to set a new NBA record.
Back on February 17, Underdog on X revealed that Knueppel is on pace to have the higgest true shooting percentage of any rookie to average more than 18 points per game.
So far this season, Charlotte has proven itself to be much improved from previous years. While it's too early to say that the Hornets are building a contender, there are many reasons for fans to be optimistic about the direction the team is heading.
Knueppel is going to be a massive part of helping Charlotte get back to being a playoff team. Putting up the kind of numbers he has shown as a rookie gives reason to believe that his ceiling is much higher.
As a team, the Hornets have gone 26-31. They are coming off of a loss to the Washington Wizards in their last game. However, if the season were to end today, they would earn the final spot in the Eastern Conference Play-In Tournament.
Hopefully, Charlotte can continue playing well throughout the remainder of the season. If the Hornets can get into the playoffs or even the Play-In Tournament, they would get their young roster valuable postseason experience.
Regardless of how the rest of the season plays out, it's clear that Charlotte has a rising potential star in Knueppel. The future is looking much brighter than it was at this time last year.