Kon Knueppel, Coby White Both Probable for Hornets vs. Nets

Kon Knueppel and Coby White are both probable for the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday night at the Brooklyn Nets, with Grant Williams ruled out, according to the team’s injury report.

The report lists Knueppel with a left hamstring strain and White under left calf injury management. Williams, out again, has a right hamstring injury.

Barclays Center hosted Charlotte’s season opener Oct. 21, a 110-103 Hornets win played without any of the three, and the rematch tips off at 7:30 p.m. ET. Since beating Washington on Oct. 26, Charlotte has lost four in a row to fall to 3-5. Brooklyn has one win in seven games.

Both Knueppel and Williams got hurt during offseason on-court work, which the Hornets disclosed in a Sept. 25 announcement that also ruled each of them out for the preseason. Knueppel skipped training camp and all four exhibitions.

The team said Oct. 20 that he was back doing individual work on the court, and he later practiced with the Greensboro Swarm, Charlotte’s G League affiliate.

About an hour before Monday’s tip-off against the Detroit Pistons, Knueppel was on the floor at Spectrum Center in his regular pregame slot, and Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer posted from there.

“Good injury news: Kon Knueppel is out warming up in his pregame slot,” Boone wrote. “Usually the final step before the return. He also finished off his workout with a dunk.”

“Would guess he may be available on Wednesday in Brooklyn,” Boone continued. “If not, then it’s Friday vs. Boston.”

Hornets coach Charles Lee would not put a date on it Monday but called the return “right around the corner.” Once Knueppel is back, ESPN reported, he is expected to move into the starting spot Sion James has been filling.

He started 80 of the 81 games he played as a rookie. Knueppel averaged 18.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 3.4 assists in 31.5 minutes per game, shooting 47.5% from the field, 42.5% from 3-point range, and 86.3% from the free-throw line.

No NBA player made more 3-pointers last season than Knueppel, who sank 273. That broke the rookie record of 206, set by Keegan Murray in 2022-23.

A left calf strain on Oct. 5, sustained in training camp, cost White the rest of the preseason and Charlotte’s first seven games. Dennis Schröder started at point guard while he was out.

Monday morning, before he had played a minute, White said his return would not take the Hornets from 20-plus turnovers down to five overnight.

“It’s hard to get the offense going when you don’t even get up shots and you keep turning the ball over,” White said after the game. “You don’t necessarily have a flow when you do things like that.”

Charlotte turned it over 27 times, and Detroit scored 37 points off those giveaways in a 124-91 win. White had 3 of the turnovers to go with 7 points and 3 assists in 16 minutes, playing under a minutes restriction that Lee said will stay in place for the next few games.

“Something we have to cut down on,” White explained. “We’re just kind of gave them the ball. So that’s hard to beat a team, especially a Detroit Pistons team, who was obviously the number one seed in the East last year.”

Cade Cunningham scored 33 points in three quarters on 13-of-20 shooting. Duncan Robinson hit six 3-pointers on his way to 24, and the Hornets shot 32-of-84 as a team.

Chicago took White seventh overall out of North Carolina in 2019, and he spent parts of seven seasons with the Bulls before they traded him to Charlotte at last season’s deadline. Once the Hornets dealt LaMelo Ball to the Minnesota Timberwolves this summer, White re-signed and took over at point guard.

Williams has yet to play this season, with the right hamstring injury dating to the same offseason workouts that sidelined Knueppel. He was cleared for individual on-court activity Oct. 20, the same day as Knueppel and White.

In November 2024, he tore the ACL, meniscus, and other ligaments in his right knee. He didn’t return to play until Jan. 10, 2026. He finished last season with 36 appearances, averaging 7.0 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 19.8 minutes per game while shooting 38.8% from 3-point range.

The 2026-27 season is the final year of the four-year, $53,341,500 deal Williams signed in July 2023, and he’ll earn $14,265,750.

Charlotte comes home after Brooklyn to face the Boston Celtics on Friday at 7 p.m. ET, then hosts the Cleveland Cavaliers at the same time on Monday.