Timing is everything in sports and right now the timing of Kon Knueppel’s shooting slump could not be worse. With the Rookie of the Year votes being counted, with Cooper Flagg dropping 33 points on the San Antonio Spurs the same night, and with the Charlotte Hornets’ playoff positioning hanging in the balance, Friday’s performance against the Detroit Pistons was the kind of night the basketball world did not need to see from the rookie sharpshooter.
Knueppel closed Friday’s 118-100 loss to the Pistons with 10 points on 4 of 12 shooting from the field and 2 of 8 from three point range, adding four rebounds and one assist across 29 minutes. For a player whose entire case for the Rookie of the Year award is built on elite efficiency and historic three point shooting, a two for eight night from deep is the last thing anyone in Charlotte wanted to see heading into the final days of the regular season.
Jalen Duren had 20 points, Duncan Robinson scored 19, and the Detroit Pistons beat Charlotte 118-100 on Friday night, locking the Hornets into the play-in tournament. That result stings beyond just the scoreline. Charlotte now has no path to avoiding the play-in and will need to win there to reach the full postseason bracket. For a team that has been one of the most surprising stories in the NBA since January, ending the regular season locked into the play-in feels like an opportunity missed.
Knueppel has failed to reach the 15 point mark in three straight games and in six of his last eight. He has been limited to two or fewer three pointers made four times during that eight game stretch, which is below average for a rookie who is shooting north of 42.5 percent from deep on nearly eight attempts per game for the season. The cold stretch is real and it has arrived at exactly the moment when voters are forming their final impressions before submitting their ballots.
Context matters here though and it matters a lot. One rough stretch does not erase what Knueppel has built across an entire season. He shattered the all time rookie record for three pointers made in a single season. He won all three Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month awards. He was the central figure in one of the most surprising team turnarounds the NBA has seen this year. And when the shot was falling earlier in the season the ceiling he showed was something to behold. His 26 point, 11 rebound double-double against the Knicks on March 27 was a reminder that on his best nights he is as complete an offensive player as anyone in his rookie class.
Among qualified rookies, Knueppel is first in three pointers made per game, second in points per game, and second in Player Impact Estimate. Those numbers did not disappear because of a cold week. The season long body of work is still there and it is still genuinely impressive by any standard.
Charlotte’s final regular season game comes Sunday against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. The Hornets are currently ninth in the Eastern Conference at 43-37, tied with the Philadelphia 76ers who hold the eighth spot. Every game left means something real for this franchise. Knueppel has one more chance to remind voters and the basketball world exactly who he is before the curtain falls on the regular season.
The slump is real. The stakes are real. And Kon Knueppel has shown all season long that he is the kind of player who responds when the moment gets biggest. Sunday at Madison Square Garden is as big a moment as the regular season gets.
