When the 2025-26 NBA season began, Cooper Flagg was the only rookie everyone was focused on, and the Rookie of the Year race was presumed to be a one-man show. Well, there are fewer than two months left in the regular season, and Charlotte Hornets sharpshooter Kon Knueppel, Flagg's former collegiate teammate at Duke, is certainly in the mix for this award as well.
All of a sudden, the Hornets have gone from being at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings over the last three seasons to being in the mix for a play-in tournament spot, as they've been one of the hottest teams in the NBA. Knueppel has his fingerprints all over Charlotte's success this year, and he's on the verge of making history.
Aside from inching closer to Keegan Murray's record of 206 made threes as a rookie, as Knueppel currently sits at 186 triples this season, the Hornets' rookie will also be joining two legendary Boston Celtics players should his averages hold up. Larry Bird and Paul Pierce are the only players to average at least 15 points and five rebounds per game while shooting over 40 percent from 3-point range.
Kon Knueppel dancing through the defense for the bucket 🔥pic.twitter.com/irgIh7ozpp
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) February 20, 2026
Knueppel is currently averaging 18.9 points and 5.5 rebounds per game while shooting 43.1 percent from 3-point range, which would put his name next to that of Bird's and Pierce's. This would be quite ironic, especially considering that Knueppel has drawn inspiration from the way Bird played and spoke about the game during his playing and coaching days.
“There was a quote from Larry Bird. My dad has these sheets of all like NBA players in quotes and good body language, bad body language,” Knueppel recently told Danielle Stein of WCNC in Charlotte. “And one of them was, ‘A guy watching a ball go out of bounds without diving for it makes me sick.' That was one of them. I think of that all the time.”
As good as he is shooting and scoring for the Hornets, Knueppel has really made a name for himself as a rookie with his hustle and determination to make winning plays in Charlotte.
Between diving on the ground for 50-50 balls or making the unselfish decisions, Knueppel always seems to be involved in the Hornets' most successful plays. Of course, he is also the one always putting his body on the line and giving maximum effort because of the inspiration he drew from Bird's quote.
After all, as Knueppel told Stein, “If you're going to compete, you might as well give it all you have and put your body on the line a little bit.”
Although it may be a little too early to begin the comparisons of Knueppel to Bird, the Hornets' youngster does share a lot of similar qualities with the Celtics' legend. Between this and following in Bird's footsteps through his own words, Knueppel is certainly on the path to becoming one of the best players in the NBA.
