\u201cWhen the moment\u2019s the biggest,\u201d says Hornets guard Sion James, also a former Duke teammate, \u201che wants to be the guy that steps up. He\u2019s always like, \u2018Give me the ball. Find me. I\u2019ll get open.\u2019 He\u2019s not afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2248640445-scaled-e1764787745556-1024x682.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Kon Knueppel got out to an early lead in the Rookie of the Year race, but is now neck and neck with former Duke teammate Cooper Flagg. Knueppel is currently averaging 18.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. (Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
He\u2019s had his rookie moments, though. In his second NBA game, against Philadelphia, he remembers his Welcome to The NBA Moment: getting clocked on a screen. He could feel his chest, his entire body, absorb the shock. \u201c(Andre) Drummond got me pretty good,\u201d Knueppel says, then cracking a smile \u2014 a genuine expression of respect. \u201cOh, man. That was a good screen.\u201d<\/p>\n
He still has rookie duties, too. \u201cI have phone chargers, and I carry the plane stool for cards,\u201d he recently told his family.<\/p>\n
And as confident as he\u2019s been against the Giannises of the world, even he can\u2019t help but geek out sometimes when facing some of his superstar peers.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou do a little bit, especially when you\u2019re doing scout work or you\u2019re watching tape. You\u2019re like, \u2018Man. I\u2019m about to play this guy?!\u2019 But once you get out there, the ball goes up, and you\u2019re competing \u2014 it\u2019s fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
He isn\u2019t embarrassed to walk up to some of them after the buzzer sounds, though \u2014 including Nikola Joki\u0107 after the Hornets faced the Nuggets in December.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was one of my favorite players, so I told him that,\u201d Knueppel says. \u201cHe was like, \u2018Thank you, my brother.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Knueppel remembers meeting Khris Middleton, the longtime former Buck now on the Mavericks. \u201cMan! One of my favorite players ever,\u201d Knueppel says. \u201cThat was cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to his father, Knueppel approached Draymond Green after the Warriors game in December, telling him that he was impressed by how he affects the game in many different ways. Green was impressed by his size, according to Knueppel\u2019s father; Green hadn\u2019t realized Kon was that \u201cbig\u201d and \u201cstrong\u201d in person.<\/p>\n
As much fun as Knueppel is having, he\u2019s equally serious about his craft. He\u2019s constantly asking the coaches how he can be better. He\u2019s almost always studying film. His biggest asset might be his basketball IQ. He\u2019s able to make an adjustment immediately in the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich is really hard to do,\u201d says Hornets assistant coach Blaine Mueller. \u201cEspecially for young players.\u201d<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s not just on the offensive end.<\/p>\n
\u201cDefensively,\u201d Lee says, \u201cyou really see his basketball intelligence.\u201d \u201cHe understands player tendencies really well. He\u2019s really able to understand how to close out: What are the angles I even need to take to closeout on somebody? If I\u2019m shifting on somebody, at what level or depth do I need to be at? If a guy is a lesser shooter. He\u2019s a little bit flatter in his shifts; if the guy\u2019s a better shooter, he\u2019s higher in his shift to not allow a direct pass to that guy.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe also does a really good job of understanding how to get to contest and do it without fouling,\u201d Lee continues, praising Knueppel\u2019s instinct to box out when a shot is released. \u201cMost guys like to relax. Even if his guy doesn\u2019t crash (the boards), he\u2019s coming in to get a hit on somebody else\u2019s guy, to make sure they\u2019re almost sandwiching that person so they can\u2019t get up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lee often asks the team: \u201cWho rewatched the game last night? What did you see?\u201d He remembers a session in Cleveland in December when \u201c(Kon) was the very first one to raise his hand,\u201d Lee says. \u201cFor a rookie to feel comfortable saying something that early, I thought it was great. It was awesome.\u201d What\u2019s more, Knueppel raised points that the coaches had planned to as well \u2014 and did so without stealing the floor for too long. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a lot of fluff,\u201d Lee says; Knueppel likely prepared what he was going to say.<\/p>\n
He has had a photographic memory since he was a child. He\u2019s always has his head in a book. He remembers random sports trivia in extraordinary detail from both the NBA and NFL. He\u2019ll be out with his family and say randomly, \u201cRemember the 2009 Packers playoff game when this or that happened?\u201d Recently, he called a former college teammate and said: \u201cLet\u2019s list off guys from the 1996 NBA Draft.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/470798928_10230438063148375_8349376690470187693_n-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n The Knueppel family, all boys, is packed with basketball talent. (Courtesy of the Knueppel family)<\/p>\n
Whenever his inner circle praises him for his play, he\u2019ll text back that he needs to be better with his turnovers. \u201cKon never thinks he\u2019s arrived,\u201d Dildy says. \u201cHe never thinks he\u2019s made it.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he has \u2014 at least enough to be followed. His family remembers leaving the hotel during NBA Draft week to walk about six blocks to where draftees were supposed to meet. They were astounded to see dozens of people not just waiting outside the hotel but following Knueppel all six blocks.<\/p>\n
Knueppel has become accustomed to people asking him for autographs wherever he goes, but it is still somewhat jarring.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a little weird,\u201d Knueppel says. \u201cThat people want your time or want an autograph or picture.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s still that way for his parents, too. \u201cMind blown,\u201d Chari says. \u201cContinually.\u201d<\/p>\n
She recently received fan mail for Kon from someone in South Korea.<\/p>\n
Chari and Kon I never expected any of this, either. \u201cWe were just like work hard, get as good as you can,\u201d the father says. Sometimes they laugh, though, thinking maybe it was meant to be, since Chari\u2019s name is actually Charlotte. Besides maintaining faith and working hard, the elder Kon really had one rule for his boys.<\/p>\n
He grins: \u201cStay out of foul trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n
All of the Knueppel boys play basketball, and they all have \u201cK\u201d names. There\u2019s Kager, 18, who is 6-10 and a high school junior; Kinston, 17, 6-6, sophomore; Kash, 15, 6-4, freshman; Kidman, 14, 5-10, eighth grade. Then, Chari jokes: \u201cK2, 20, 6-6, college dropout.\u201d<\/p>\n
The family calls Kon \u201cK2\u201d to distinguish him from Kon I; but to Chari, no matter how famous her son gets, he will always be \u201cKonnie\u201d to her.<\/p>\n
When Knueppel was growing up, the home couldn\u2019t be missed. They had a sign out front that read: \u201cKONPLEX.\u201d They still do but have added a Hornets flag.<\/p>\n
His father was a Hall of Fame member at Wisconsin Lutheran College. His mother, formerly Chari Nordgaard, was a Hall of Famer at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, becoming the school\u2019s all-time leading scorer. Chari was a post player, hitting buckets with finesse; Kon I was more of an outside shooter. They agree Kon II is the best shooter in the family, though the dad still plays in a men\u2019s league that the family has run for over 20 years.<\/p>\n
The family group chat is filled with commentary from Knueppel\u2019s Hornets and his father\u2019s men\u2019s league games. And Knueppel isn\u2019t too big-time to still learn from his dad. Kon I recently had a poor game. He was 0 of 9 in the first quarter but kept shooting, ending up going 9-of-9 in the third.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoys, trust your reps,\u201d he wrote in the chat.<\/p>\n
Recently, a college coach came to watch Kager play in his high school game. His NBA brother wrote some advice: \u201cPlay like you would when no one is watching. Make the right play. You will make mistakes. Do it aggressively. Dominate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chari and Kon I always share the boys\u2019 stats in the chat, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople think it\u2019s funny I still take stats for K2\u2019s NBA games,\u201d Chari says.<\/p>\n
As obsessed as Knueppel is nowadays, he wasn\u2019t immediately into hoops from the beginning. Quite the opposite.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad,\u201d 5-year-old Kon said to his father. \u201cI don\u2019t like sports.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/454756097_10228605896825362_5664065666988881624_n-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Basketball was an early passion for Knueppel. (Courtesy of the Knueppel family)<\/p>\n
When he was around 7, he and his brothers begged their parents for a Nintendo Wii video-game system. Chari was initially against it, not wanting her kids to become hooked. But eventually, she relented. The first game Knueppel played was NBA Jam, and he studied the players with a fervor. One day, his parents came home, and he was blurting out facts about David Robinson and Tim Duncan.<\/p>\n
But in his first year of playing as a kindergartner, he went the whole season without scoring. And the one time that a teammate dared pass him the ball, young Knueppel ducked. The ball sailed out of bounds.<\/p>\n
But soon, Knueppel began to fall in love with the game, becoming competitive when he wasn\u2019t even in the game. He wasn\u2019t even playing. His dad was. When the father lost a tournament, young Kon sat in the bleachers, crying.<\/p>\n
His hoops IQ began to develop. He knew where to make a pass before a teammate even cut. His uncle, Jeff Nordgaard, who was drafted by the Bucks in the second round of the 1996 NBA Draft, coached him for a few years in AAU ball.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he was a fourth grader,\u201d Nordgaard says, \u201che played like an upperclassman in high school.\u201d<\/p>\n
Knueppel soaked up so much basketball from his parents and always had his nose in a basketball book, obsessed with every detail of the game he could find. Not content to just make shots, he made sure, as he got to high school and played on the EYBL circuit, that he defended, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s sneaky athletic,\u201d says Michael Nau, his EYBL coach. \u201cHe guarded the one through the four.\u201d<\/p>\n
After Knueppel performed well at a team camp at Marquette, the university\u2019s coach, Shaka Smart, called to offer him a scholarship. As soon as Knueppel hung up the phone, he didn\u2019t begin jumping around, celebrating. Instead, he said to his mom: \u201cWhoa. I gotta get a lot better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even he didn\u2019t believe in his own hype; he was too focused on his improvement. Chari knew he was getting the offer a couple of days before he received it. She was elated \u2014 and could barely keep it in.<\/p>\n
\u201cI expected him to be that thrilled, too,\u201d Chari says. \u201cHe was certainly happy, but his immediate reaction was to make sure he got good enough to warrant the offer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Knueppel spent nearly every night after practice shooting, according to Ryan Walz, his coach at Wisconsin Lutheran High in Milwaukee, who was worried he might be putting too much stress on his body. When told he might need to slow down, Knueppel looked nearly dejected.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut coach,\u201d he pleaded. \u201cI love to shoot.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/250320-Kon-Knueppel-Cooper-Flagg-1024x774.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Knueppel and Cooper Flagg were roommates at Duke and remain close. (Ethan Miller\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The work paid off, as he headed to Duke, wanting to challenge himself against the best players he could, even if some critics thought he would ride the bench.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to get as good as I possibly could,\u201d Knueppel says, \u201cand I thought going to Duke and practicing against the best players every day would for sure make me better \u2026 and (have) the most fun competing against the best guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
His first pick-up game at the university as a freshman, he didn\u2019t try to play it cool or take it easy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just remember him, like not getting on people, but wanting us to play faster and push the pace more and more,\u201d says Neal Begovich, a former Duke teammate. \u201cI remember on that first day being like, \u2018Wow. This kid, he\u2019s ready.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
But inside, Knueppel was struggling with homesickness. All his life, he had done nearly everything with his four younger brothers and parents. Watching the Packers on Sundays. Rebounding for each other after school. Eating breakfast together. He felt so isolated when his parents left him at Duke during his first week that he asked if he could FaceTime during the family breakfast. He missed his friends from back home, too, who mostly stayed in the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was hard,\u201d Knueppel says, \u201cbeing away from people that you care about.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was also being pushed to his limit physically. He was playing well \u2014 and his coaches even told him so. Still, Knueppel didn\u2019t agree. \u201cI was being hard on myself,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
The homesickness wouldn\u2019t subside, either, as the summer turned into fall. The official season would start soon. Chari was close to driving the family Ford Expedition to Durham, N.C., and temporarily moving there. \u201cWe were really worried,\u201d says Dildy, the Duke coach, \u201cthat Kon would go home before the year started and decide not to come back.\u201d<\/p>\n
One day, Knueppel asked his parents: \u201cWhat\u2019s it worth? What\u2019s all this for?\u201d Did he finally reach his limit? He questioned everything, but his parents encouraged him to keep his spirits up. To remember that all the work he was putting in would pay off for the rest of his life. He would find his way. He would be OK.<\/p>\n
Knueppel kept pushing but struggled, also on the court. He went 5 for 20 against Kentucky in a loss. And against No. 1 Kansas, Duke put the ball in his hands late, with just three seconds remaining, and he turned the ball over. Duke fell in overtime. He berated himself more than any of his coaches could have, so much so that Dildy would come up with a few phrases for Knueppel to learn to let go of mistakes: \u201cNobody cares. Nobody gives a s\u2014.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou think the world is ending,\u201d Dildy would tell him, \u201cbut nobody cares in the grand scheme of things. Keep working.\u201d<\/p>\n
Knueppel learned to keep a short-term memory and began to blossom. He looked like one of the best players in the country. About a month into the season, Duke head coach Jon Scheyer told Knueppel\u2019s parents: \u201cGet ready for this train. Because this is how good your son is.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Knueppel had not just found his footing, but his peace. He realized something that would prepare him for the NBA more than any drill or tryout could. \u201cI don\u2019t want to have all of these emotions. I just want to get out there and play,\u201d his parents remember him telling them one day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to be that person that is mad, sad or angry because of a basketball game, because of how I played,\u201d Knueppel told them. \u201cI want to be grateful and happy and live my life not based on how I did on the basketball court.\u201d<\/p>\n
He would give his all each time he stepped on the floor but would no longer allow a poor performance to wound him. Define him. He would dedicate himself to being the best player he could be but would try to keep a balanced mind at the same time. \u201cBasketball,\u201d he says, \u201cit really isn\u2019t truly who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n
He started to enjoy playing with his teammates, even making friends on campus. He learned to be independent, to cherish his time with family but make a way for himself while away from them. And, as he would be named MVP in the ACC Tournament, when Flagg went down with an ankle injury, he proved how valuable he was \u2014 and how valuable he could become to an NBA franchise.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody thought we would lose,\u201d Dildy says, \u201cAnd Kon literally just put us on his shoulders and didn\u2019t let us lose.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soon, it was clear Knueppel could become a lottery pick \u2014 something few could have predicted before the season began. But when preparing for the draft, he sprained his ankle. \u201cThat was very scary,\u201d Chari says. He was laid up on his family\u2019s couch for a week or more, Chari remembers. He enlisted a chiropractor, PT, and scheduled orthopedic surgeon appointments. The ankle held him out of the combine drills, but he was able to recover quickly. He was selected No. 4 overall.<\/p>\n
He quickly meshed with his new teammates \u2014 and coaches. Mueller, the assistant coach, is also from Wisconsin. The two built trust early when he and Knueppel would watch Packers games together.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s an easy guy to root for because he always plays hard. He\u2019s always trying to make the right play,\u201d Mueller says. \u201cAnd his teammates know that, they see that. They appreciate that, and they feed off of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Knueppel even had the entire team over to his home for dinner, back in November, during his Milwaukee homecoming trip. Kidman tried to dunk on LaMelo Ball in the family room hoop. Chari made 25 pounds of chicken fajitas with all the fixings: beans, rice, corn; even churros and watermelon, too. They had one can of Cherry Crush left from an earlier party, but everyone wanted it. Mason Plumlee ended up with it. Chari saw Brandon Miller and Miles Bridges a second time when they came to Milwaukee again, and they asked why they hadn\u2019t been invited for dinner.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey said they plan on an invite every time they come to town,\u201d Chari says. \u201cThat is the best.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-01-26-at-3.16.07\u202fPM.png\")
<\/p>\n
\n The Hornets team dinner at the Knueppel house in November. (Courtesy of the Knueppel family)<\/p>\n
It felt special to her \u2014 and to Knueppel \u2014 that his teammates were interested in getting to know him better. Every single player showed up.<\/p>\n
Knueppel can often be found hanging out with not just his teammates, but staff, including trainers, video staffers and even Dell Curry, Hornets broadcaster and legend. Even though he is still just a rookie, he is assuming some leadership duties already.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s quick to call you out if you\u2019re not competing at his level that you\u2019re supposed to be competing at,\u201d James says. But he balances that with his own \u201chumility,\u201d James continues, \u201cto check himself first and make sure that he\u2019s where he needs to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s playing at an elite level, averaging 18.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 3.3 3-pointers in 32 minutes per game. Twice, he was named Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month, leading rookies in 3-pointers made, ranking third overall in the NBA in that category behind Stephen Curry and Donovan Mitchell.<\/p>\n
Many back home in Milwaukee, people who aren\u2019t even basketball fans, have told Knueppel\u2019s parents that they\u2019ve bought NBA League Pass just to watch him play \u2014 even though they don\u2019t know the intricacies of the game. They like that he appears to have stayed the same, kept his Midwest values, despite his growing stardom. That appears to be the case.<\/p>\n
His family still treats him the same, too. His grandmother, Eleanor Nordgaard, still bakes him his favorite banana bread \u2014 moist and perfectly baked; on one trip, arena security wouldn\u2019t let her bring in the Ziploc bag of bread to a game, so the family hid it outside behind a rock and grabbed it after to hand to Knueppel.<\/p>\n
Most of his conversations with his family, these days, aren\u2019t even about basketball.<\/p>\n
But the second he steps on the floor, he forgets about all of that. Where he\u2019s from. What others think of him. He\u2019s there to compete \u2014 and to have fun.<\/p>\n
And to be the killer his team needs him to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kon Knueppel wasn\u2019t nervous. Not even a little bit. But he had every reason to be. The 20-year-old…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3777],"tags":[7,684,473,3878,691,685,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-592261","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-charlotte-hornets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-charlotte","10":"tag-charlotte-hornets","11":"tag-charlottehornets","12":"tag-duke-blue-devils","13":"tag-hornets","14":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116040170169151379","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}