Kon Knueppel Gives Injury Update Before Hornets Season Opener

At Charlotte Hornets media day Monday, Kon Knueppel said he will do his best to be ready for the Oct. 21 season opener at Brooklyn, three days after the team announced he will miss the preseason with a left hamstring injury.

The Hornets said Friday that Knueppel was hurt during offseason on-court activity, and the team plans to re-evaluate him in the regular season's first week. Jeff Peterson, the Hornets' president of basketball operations, said at his own availability that he did not know whether Knueppel would be available for the opener.

The only game Knueppel missed as a rookie came after a right ankle sprain in Orlando.

"We know that I want to play in every game," Knueppel said. "We saw that last year, pretty badly rolled ankle, and only missed one — didn't miss any games in college or high school. So I'm gonna do my best to get myself prepared for that."

That injury came Dec. 26. With seconds left in the first half of a win at Orlando, Knueppel landed on Moussa Diabaté's foot after going up for a rebound and needed help leaving the floor. He had scored a team-high 16 points, including four 3-pointers in the first quarter.

He had played in each of Charlotte's first 30 games, averaging 19.4 points.

Knueppel sat out Dec. 29 against the Milwaukee Bucks, a home loss. Two days later, on New Year's Eve, he was back against the Golden State Warriors and finished with 20 points, eight assists, and five rebounds in 32 minutes. He shot 7-of-11 from the field and 4-of-7 from 3-point range in a 132-125 loss.

Knueppel later described how unusual it felt for him to sit out.

"I hadn't missed a game in all of high school or college, so it was a weird feeling," Knueppel explained to Rookie Wire after that game. "I was getting real shaky before last game, (wanting) to be out there. We got in a really good spot, and the rehab we did, starting in the third quarter of the Orlando game, just getting the ankle ready to go."

He did not miss another game. Knueppel finished his rookie season with 81 appearances and 80 starts.

Over 31.5 minutes a night, he averaged 18.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 3.4 assists. He made 273 3-pointers on 7.9 attempts per game, and that total led the league. Cooper Flagg, his teammate at Duke, won Rookie of the Year, and Knueppel finished second.

The Hornets took Knueppel fourth overall in the 2025 NBA Draft. He was the MVP of the Las Vegas Summer League championship game that July, scoring 21 points in Charlotte's win over Sacramento.

This season's hamstring injury came before the start of his second training camp. NBA.com's season outlook had him in the projected starting five.

Knueppel, who turned 21 in August, is from Milwaukee. He opened up about the LaMelo Ball trade on the Milwaukee Uncut podcast in July.

Charlotte's four-game preseason starts Oct. 6 against the Brooklyn Nets. Grant Williams, who hurt his right hamstring in the same stretch of offseason work, will also sit out every preseason game.