In some of the least surprising news of the offseason, Charlotte Hornets wing Kon Knueppel made the NBA’s All Rookie first team.
Knueppel undeservedly lost out on Rookie of the Year honors to his former college teammate Cooper Flagg. He seemingly lost his grip on the award with some quiet performances in the final couple weeks of the season while Flagg juiced his counting stats on a tanking Mavericks team. That’s not to entirely discredit who Flagg is as a player. He’s going to be one of the best players in the league before long, and he’s doing things we haven’t seen since LeBron James. But Kon Knueppel did things we’ve never seen, and he did it while helping to elevate his team almost to the playoffs.
Knueppel finished his rookie season with averages of 18.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 3.4 assists while shooting 47.5% from the floor, 42.5% from three, and 86.3% from the free throw line. He was so steady and consistent for most of the year that I think a lot of Hornets fans became desensitized to how absurdly productive and efficient that is for a rookie, and Knueppel’s style didn’t exactly garner a bunch of social media friendly clips and highlights. Since his game might not always be super exciting and fun, here are some fun Knueppel rookie facts:
- Only one other rookie in the history of the entire NBA has averaged at least 18/5/3 while shooting over 45% from the floor and 40% from three. That was Larry Bird back in 1979-80.
- Knueppel’s 63.3% true shooting percentage is third best for a rookie in the history of the NBA and the best by a non-big by a pretty significant margin. The next best is Magic Johnson at 60.2%
- Knueppel is the only rookie in the history of the NBA to lead the league in 3-point makes
It’s a well deserved honor for the Hornets rookie, even if it is a bit of a consolation at this point. He’ll be motivated to prove the voters wrong going forward, and it should be very exciting to see what kind of player he turns into as he develops.
