Kon Knueppel Upgraded to Available, Will Make Hornets Season Debut at Brooklyn

The Charlotte Hornets cleared Kon Knueppel for his season debut Wednesday night at the Brooklyn Nets, upgrading him from probable to available on their afternoon injury update. A left hamstring strain had kept him out of all eight games so far.

Hornets PR posted the upgrade at 1 p.m. ET. Tip-off at Barclays Center is 7:30.

By media day on Sept. 28, the hamstring was no longer painful, three days after the team announced the injury and ruled him out of the preseason.

“[We] were just playing pickup up here, right in our practice facility,” Knueppel said. “And just got a rebound, defensive rebound, and went coast-to-coast with it and just felt my hamstring pull up on me. Then I was like, ‘I don’t think that’s a cramp.’ So just a little tug of the hamstring.”

Grant Williams’ right hamstring injury was announced the same day. He is still out, and the Hornets sent him to Greensboro for Wednesday’s Swarm practice.

Five-on-five play and contact were the last items on Knueppel’s list of steps that day.

“It feels good,” Knueppel explained. “Like, I’m not dealing with any pain now ... It’s just going through the steps of starting to run, getting back to playing 5-on-5, playing against contact and ramping myself up from there.”

He resumed individual on-court work Oct. 20, one day before Charlotte’s 110-103 opener against Brooklyn. After practicing with the Greensboro Swarm Oct. 29, he was recalled the next day.

Before Charlotte faced Detroit on Monday, Hornets coach Charles Lee said Knueppel’s return was “right around the corner.” Listed as probable Tuesday, Knueppel was upgraded to available Wednesday.

The Oct. 21 game at Brooklyn was the date Knueppel had set for himself.

“We know that I want to play in every game,” Knueppel said. “We saw that last year, [I] pretty badly rolled [my] ankle and only missed one; I didn’t miss any games in college or high school. So I’m going to do my best to get myself prepared for that.”

He played and started all but one game as a rookie. On Dec. 26 at Orlando, he left in the second quarter with a sprained right ankle after scoring 16 points, then missed the next game.

That season, 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 three, and 86.3% from the line.

His 273 threes led the league, setting a rookie record above Keegan Murray’s 206 in 2022-23.

The Rookie of the Year race came down to Knueppel and Duke teammate and roommate Cooper Flagg, who won 412–386, with 56 first-place votes to Knueppel’s 44. Both made the All-Rookie First Team.

Charlotte selected him fourth overall in 2025. On Sunday, the Hornets picked up the third-year option on his rookie contract, which covers the 2027-28 season.

Sion James has the starting spot for now. ESPN reported Monday that Knueppel is expected to move into it once he is back.

Detroit beat Charlotte 124-91 on Monday, handing the Hornets their fourth straight loss. Charlotte is 3-5, averaging 97.4 points; Brooklyn is 1-6.

Friday brings the Boston Celtics to Spectrum Center for a 7 p.m. ET tip-off.