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It’s getting increasingly difficult to deny the Rookie of the Year case for Kon Knueppel after his latest accomplishment.
Leave it to a Charlotte Hornet to steal some buzz.
Kon Knueppel further cemented his place in Queen City royalty on Thursday night: with the sixth of eight 3-pointers in this week’s thrashing of the Indiana Pacers, Knueppel had 207 in his fledgling NBA career. The sensational sixth launched in the third set a new NBA record for rookies, passing the mark that Keegan Murray set for the Sacramento Kings in 2022.
“It’s really just about making the right basketball play,” the fourth overall pick of the most recent draft said after his latest accomplishment, per ESPN. “My teammates are setting good screens and setting me up in good spots. The coaches as well. I’m just out there looking to make the right play for my team.”
It’s safe to say that Knueppel, 20, has done that and then some: the 133-109 win over the Pacers moved Charlotte to 18-9 since the calendar flipped to 2026, tied with Eastern powers Boston, Cleveland, and Detroit for second-most in the Association in that span. Knueppel has left a lasting presence on the 2026 ledgers, standing in the top 10 in both traditional (second in 3-pointers behind teammate LaMelo Ball) and advanced (ninth in offensive rating, min. 20 games/mins. per game) categories alike.
Congrats Kon Knueppel! He’s averaging 4.7 3PT this month. If he continues to average that number for the remaining 22 games, he will finish with 312 threes as a rookie!
The 300 3PT Club: Steph (6x), Harden, Ant, Klay & Malik Beasley
The 400 3PT Club: Steph https://t.co/eQZwlbu9eS pic.twitter.com/V2IAPMJRFO
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) February 27, 2026
Kon Over Coop?
Heading into this campaign, many assumed that Knueppel’s fellow former Duke Blue Devil Cooper Flagg had the Rookie of the Year title in the bag.
The 19-year-old top pick Flagg, to his credit, has done little to deny anyone that notion, creating young history at multiple stanzas. Knueppel played witness to but one such instance: on Jan. 29, Flagg put up a 49-point, 10-rebound double-double against the Hornets, breaking a single-game scoring record for NBA teenagers.
Flagg continues to hold down the expected fort as the league’s top rookie scorer and he’s among the leaders in almost every major conventional stat amongst freshmen. Knueppel, however, is making a further name for himself in the rookie analytical departments, ranking third in net rating and fourth in effective field goal percentage.
At this point, Flagg and Knueppel are sharing more than the hardwood at Cameron Indoor Stadium, effectively distancing themselves from other sterling breakouts such as VJ Edgecombe and Derick Queen. Postseason award voters could probably use pen to write their names into the top two Rookie of the Year slots … but no one in their right mind should be sure of the order quite yet.
Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg and Charlotte Hornets guard-forward Kon Knueppel have been named the Kia NBA Western and Eastern Conference Rookies of the Month, respectively, for games played in January. pic.twitter.com/M5N6Hej0EY
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) February 3, 2026
If the award was entitled “Most Valuable Rookie,” Knueppel would probably have the award locked up: he is the biggest difference of a Hornets group burdened with the longest active postseason drought in the Association (nine seasons) and has thrust them to the cusp of the Eastern Conference bracket as holders of a Play-In Tournament spot.
While it’s perhaps fair to assume that the triple-happy nature of the modern Association will ensure that his extra point record likely won’t stand for long (he needed less than two seasons to best Murray, after all), the success of Charlotte (29-31) is often tied to Knueppel, whose successful box scores often coincide with Hornet triumphs …
Stats through Feb. 27
Knueppel Event
Charlotte Record
At least 60 % from 3
7-3
At least 2 steals
6-2
At least +10
20-0
No Turnovers
6-3
True Shooting % at least 80
8-4
That’s a stark contrast to the growing pains that Flagg has endured on the meandering Mavericks, who essentially broke out a white flag at the trade deadline. Obviously that’s not Flagg’s fault—he wasn’t the one who called Rob Pelinka about Luka Dončić’s availability one winter ago—but it’d be far from fair to deny Knueppel some hardware based purely on destiny. While there’s debate over whether the true face of the Hornets’ success should be Knueppel or tenured stinger LaMelo Ball, his impact has not gone unnoticed among Queen City leadership.
“He has this bravado, this façade, where he doesn’t give you much. He stays even-keeled. But he’s a f—ing killer,” lauded Hornets head coach Charles Lee in a profile from Mirin Fader of The Athletic. “Defensively, you really see his basketball intelligence. He understands player tendencies really well. He’s really able to understand how to close out.”
“He also does a really good job of understanding how to get to contest and do it without fouling,” Lee further professed to Fader. “Most guys like to relax. Even if his guy doesn’t crash (the boards), he’s coming in to get a hit on somebody else’s guy, to make sure they’re almost sandwiching that person so they can’t get up.”
At the same time, Flagg’s flag-bearers will equally (and fairly) argue that he should also avoid unfair punishment. The true fact of the matter is that voters’ hand may be forced: Flagg is currently flagged with a foot sprain that has kept him off the floor for two weeks.
Who Will Win the NBA ROY Award?
As Dallas’ situation further deteriorates (six games out of the final Western Play-In spot entering the weekend), there’s a lingering sense that it would be better to simply keep him out of harm’s way rather than go gunning for an award that his de facto delegates in the voting realms would probably be happy to give him anyway. That opens the door even further for Knueppel, who feels guaranteed to at least play an 83rd game, one that few, if any, envisioned the Hornets getting at the start of the year.
The Rookie of the Year title is not beholden to the 65-game rule that has become a talking point in the MVP, All-NBA, and Defensive Player of the Year discourse but if Flagg remains stationed at 49 games played, that’s going to create some polled awkwardness. Only six rookies have earned the title playing less than 60 games in a full campaign, the last being Brandon Roy in 2007.
In any event, there’s no doubt drama added to the ROTY race that few, if any, envisioned being present at the start of the year. Both Flagg and Knueppel emerge as undeniable winners, as does the league at large: the headlining contributions of active rookies no doubt enthuses an Association yearning for major contributions from its middle-of-the-pack squads amidst accusations of tanking.
At the individual level, however, there can only be one, and if the league truly wants to highlight victorious contributions and a true individual impact, there would be far worse fates than Knueppel tearing down Flagg, at least temporarily.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
