It happened about a month ago, when the Hornets played in Cleveland a couple of days before Christmas. Kon Knueppel, the fourth overall pick in the draft, was suiting up for just his 29th NBA game. That’s all it took.
He smashed the previous record held by Lauri Markkanen by 12 games - the Finnish star needed 41. Luka Doncic is third on the list at 42 games.
Anthony Edwards, Damian Lillard, and Tyrese Haliburton all sit comfortably inside the top 15. No one else has come close to Knueppel’s pace.
Only 20 years old, Knueppel has stormed into the league with confidence, maturity, and poise well beyond his age. He is averaging 19.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game, while shooting an outstanding 42.8 per cent from beyond the arc!
Only Steph Curry and Donovan Mitchell have netted more triples this season, and they are shooting just a bit under 40%. Both are veterans.
Knueppel is only getting started, and he is already posting star-like numbers that have the potential to eventually make him one of the greatest shooters the NBA has ever seen.
Knueppel grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the oldest of five boys. Basketball ran in the family - both of his parents played in college, and his uncle, Jeff Nordgaard, was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks in 1996. Destined to excel on the hardwood? It didn’t happen right away.
"When Kon was five and six years old, he was not into sports at all," said Nordgaard.
"We are a sports family. But he was really smart, using words in his vocabulary that were beyond what any of the little kids would say.
"We were starting to think he would be a non-athlete, which was totally fine, but still one of those things that surprised us."
As a child, Kon loved reading and participating in spelling bees. At first, it seemed that his athletic potential would never surface. Luckily, his exceptional brightness ended up paving his basketball way.
He didn’t fall in love with the game by watching highlights or shooting in the driveway. It started with a book - The Big Book of Basketball.
"He probably read it four times, starting when he was about 10," his mother, Chari, said.
"Then he wanted to talk to everyone about what he learned. That’s just who he is - an old soul." Another influence soon followed: a Nintendo Wii.
"I didn't like basketball before the Wii. I just wasn't interested in it growing up," Knueppel said.
"But we got that Wii, and I started playing NBA Jam and 2K. I fell in love with players. From there, I was passionate to find out as much as I humanly could about NBA players."
And that’s how Kon fell for basketball.
Once he realised how much he loved and cared about the sport, he started tapping into his potential. He was never the strongest or fastest, but possessed a very high basketball IQ that allowed him to make great decisions.
"He was very skilled but not overly impressive physically. His feel, poise, and composure, along with his shotmaking, made him stand out above the rest," said Norgaard.
He emerged as one of the nation’s top high-school players. As a senior, Knueppel led his team to a perfect 30-0 record and a state championship, averaging 26.4 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 5.1 assists. College powerhouses were fighting over him.
Knueppel picked the Duke Blue Devils and joined Cooper Flagg in the top recruiting class in the country.
He thrived at the next level. As a true freshman, he started every game and averaged 14.4 points while shooting 40.6% from three. Together with Flagg, they formed a dynamic duo that carried Duke to the Final Four.
The Blue Devils fell short in the national semi-finals. Despite the heartbreaking loss, Kon knew there was no time to waste. The draft was coming up. And he had been preparing for it.
Before enrolling at Duke, Knueppel asked himself a simple question: What can I do to earn minutes as a freshman and succeed at the next level?
"I started getting up at 5:30 a.m. every day during the summer except Sundays to work as hard as possible. I really, really enjoy just doing my work and getting out that extra work," said Knueppel. Needless to say, his hard work paid off.
Earlier in his lone college season, mock draft experts had him on the verge of the top 10. As the draft night was coming up, Kon kept climbing the ladder. The Hornets owned the fourth pick and called his name.
Expectations are always high for top draft selections. Knueppel has exceeded them all. He’s been consistent, confident, and productive from day one. He leads all rookies in scoring and is neck-and-neck with former teammate Cooper Flagg in the Rookie of the Year race.
He’s also on pace to shatter Keegan Murray’s rookie record of 206 made three-pointers in a season. Knueppel has already knocked down 137, and the season is just halfway over.
If his pace holds, he could finish around an astounding 300 threes. Nobody has ever gotten even remotely close to this number.
At one point, basketball didn’t seem to be in Knueppel’s cards. It took a book and a gaming console to change the trajectory of his life. Once he committed, he never stopped chasing excellence - and now, he has a chance to keep rewriting the NBA history books. From a bookworm to a bucket-getter!
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