Sure, Kon Knueppel is having enjoyable. But make no mistake: ‘He’s a f—ing killer’

Kon Knueppel wasn’t nervous. Not even somewhat bit. But he had each motive to be.

The 20-year-old rookie for the Charlotte Hornets took the court docket at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, again in November, and glanced over at 6-foot-11 Bucks famous person Giannis Antetokounmpo. One of the best gamers on the planet was now mere inches from him.

“Seeing a player across from me who did so much for the team I rooted for growing up,” Kon says, “was awesome.”

Growing up only a quick drive from the world, the 6-foot-6, 215-pound guard had been a Bucks fan all his life, cheering for the group when Milwaukee had endured shedding season after shedding season. And now, in his first NBA sport in his hometown, Knueppel heard his identify referred to as within the beginning lineups with a roar so loud you’d suppose he performed for the Bucks. About 2,000 folks from his hometown, lots of them family and friends, got here to see him play, forming a sea of teal and white No. 7 Hornets jerseys. Bucks staffers had by no means accommodated a bunch that giant; many must wait hours after the sport within the bleachers for an image with their hometown hero.

Right earlier than tip-off, Knueppel might really feel the magnitude of the second. And but, he didn’t really feel jitters. He knew, deep in his bones:

I actually belong out right here, he thought to himself.

And since that evening, when he scored 32 factors, together with 4 3-pointers, plus three assists and three steals, he hasn’t run from a problem from any of the league’s different superstars. With 162 3s made, he has essentially the most by any participant in league historical past via the primary 49 video games of his profession.

Knueppel is rather more aggressive than his disarming picture portrays. The Boy Next Door with floppy reddish-brown hair, shy upon first assembly somebody, reveals a very completely different facet on the court docket:

“He has this bravado, this façade, where he doesn’t give you much. He stays even keeled,” says Charles Lee, Hornets head coach. “But he’s a f—ing killer.”

Knueppel has by no means backed down. He performed so exhausting at Duke, the place he spent his freshman season in 2024-25, that every day he got here to follow with both a black eye, a twisted ankle or a busted lip, prompting Duke affiliate head coach Emanuel Dildy to inform NBA scouts within the predraft course of: “Kon’s a hockey player. He just happens to be great at basketball.”

He carries himself with a refreshing sincerity and maturity; a been-here-before ease that not many 20-year-olds embody. It’s a quiet confidence that doesn’t have to announce itself to be felt. Heard.

“He’s so mature for his age,” says Pat Connaughton, his former teammate in Charlotte. “He’s internally motivated.”

Knueppel’s coaches and teammates name him an outdated soul. It’s not simply that he has an appreciation for old-school gamers who’ve come earlier than him — not ’90s; not even ’80s; he’s a historical past buff who has a deep information of gamers from the ’60s and ’70s. It’s his character, too. And his pursuits. His favourite film is 1987’s “The Princess Bride” (Knueppel was born in 2005). He enjoys ’80s music, together with smooth rock, loves the band Chicago and can usually flip to his Hornets teammates, lots of them older than he, and joke a few track: “You don’t know anything about this one.”

Knueppel has introduced an pleasure, a deeply felt pleasure, to a long-struggling Hornets franchise. For him, having enjoyable isn’t only a cliché mentality, however a real a part of what makes him as poised as he’s — and as becoming a frontrunner for this group. Centering pleasure is a lesson his dad and mom, Kon I and Chari Knueppel, each former star school gamers, taught him from a younger age. In automobile rides after video games, they wouldn’t talk about technique. They’d merely ask if he had enjoyable and say: “I love watching you play.”

“You should be having fun with your teammates. You should have fun competing,” Knueppel says. “That’s really the most important.” He is aware of what number of veterans can lose that pleasure. “It is hard. It is a job. It’s a lot of travel. It’s a lot of time away from home, and there’s a lot of money involved, so it’s really easy to lose that. I just think for me personally, it’s important to keep that [fun] because it’ll just help me perform better.”

It’s how he shrinks the second — is ready to dominate with out getting misplaced within the glow of all of it. Basketball, as he performs it — as he sees it — is straightforward. Find the open man. Don’t pressure issues. Shoot once you’re open. Make a play when your group wants it. Be aggressive, however let the sport come to you. He has a perspective, a wholesome distance from the sport, whereas nonetheless burning to be nice at it, that got here from surpassing not simply others’ expectations, however even his personal:

“I didn’t think I’d play in the NBA.”

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Knueppel has a laser concentrate on this morning in mid-January to make every shot he takes alongside the 3-point line. The Hornets are capturing round at Santa Monica College throughout a West Coast highway swing, and lots of gamers are free. Joking round. Going trick shot after trick shot. Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” blasts within the background.

Knueppel drills seven in a row, then breaks right into a smile. Before 5 minutes go, teammate after teammate comes over to offer him a high-five. At one level, veteran ahead Grant Williams has his arm round Knueppel, as the 2 share amusing. The vibes are excessive. And the Hornets would go on to beat the Lakers that week, with Knueppel dropping 19 factors, seven rebounds and 4 assists. At one level, he appeared as if he had the consolation of a 10-year veteran, taking a handoff and driving exhausting to the rim to complete as three gamers closed in on him.

He was chosen to play within the Rising Stars mini-tournament and the 3-point contest at this week’s All-Star Weekend, and is a shock contender for Rookie of the Year behind Dallas Mavericks star Cooper Flagg, his former Duke teammate and roommate.

“When the moment’s the biggest,” says Hornets guard Sion James, additionally a former Duke teammate, “he wants to be the guy that steps up. He’s always like, ‘Give me the ball. Find me. I’ll get open.’ He’s not afraid.”

He’s had his rookie moments, although. In his second NBA sport, in opposition to Philadelphia, he remembers his Welcome to The NBA Moment: getting clocked on a display. He might really feel his chest, his complete physique, soak up the shock. “(Andre) Drummond got me pretty good,” Knueppel says, then cracking a smile — a real expression of respect. “Oh, man. That was a good screen.”

He nonetheless has rookie duties, too. “I have phone chargers, and I carry the plane stool for cards,” he just lately informed his household.

And as assured as he’s been in opposition to the Giannises of the world, even he can’t assist however geek out typically when going through a few of his famous person friends.

“You do a little bit, especially when you’re doing scout work or you’re watching tape. You’re like, ‘Man. I’m about to play this guy?!’ But once you get out there, the ball goes up, and you’re competing — it’s fun.”

He isn’t embarrassed to stroll as much as a few of them after the buzzer sounds, although — together with Nikola Jokić after the Hornets confronted the Nuggets in December.

“He was one of my favorite players, so I told him that,” Knueppel says. “He was like, ‘Thank you, my brother.’”

Knueppel remembers assembly Khris Middleton, the longtime former Buck now on the Mavericks. “Man! One of my favorite players ever,” Knueppel says. “That was cool.”

According to his father, Knueppel approached Draymond Green after the Warriors sport in December, telling him that he was impressed by how he impacts the sport in many various methods. Green was impressed by his measurement, in response to Knueppel’s father; Green hadn’t realized Kon was that “big” and “strong” in individual.

As a lot enjoyable as Knueppel is having, he’s equally critical about his craft. He’s continually asking the coaches how he will be higher. He’s virtually at all times learning movie. His largest asset may be his basketball IQ. He’s capable of make an adjustment instantly within the sport.

“Which is really hard to do,” says Hornets assistant coach Blaine Mueller. “Especially for young players.”

But it’s not simply on the offensive finish.

“Defensively,” Lee says, “you really see his basketball intelligence.” “He understands player tendencies really well. He’s really able to understand how to close out: What are the angles I even need to take to closeout on somebody? If I’m shifting on somebody, at what level or depth do I need to be at? If a guy is a lesser shooter. He’s a little bit flatter in his shifts; if the guy’s a better shooter, he’s higher in his shift to not allow a direct pass to that guy.

“He also does a really good job of understanding how to get to contest and do it without fouling,” Lee continues, praising Knueppel’s intuition to field out when a shot is launched. “Most guys like to relax. Even if his guy doesn’t crash (the boards), he’s coming in to get a hit on somebody else’s guy, to make sure they’re almost sandwiching that person so they can’t get up.”

Lee usually asks the group: “Who rewatched the game last night? What did you see?” He remembers a session in Cleveland in December when “(Kon) was the very first one to raise his hand,” Lee says. “For a rookie to feel comfortable saying something that early, I thought it was great. It was awesome.” What’s extra, Knueppel raised factors that the coaches had deliberate to as nicely — and did so with out stealing the ground for too lengthy. “It wasn’t a lot of fluff,” Lee says; Knueppel seemingly ready what he was going to say.

He has had a photographic reminiscence since he was a toddler. He’s at all times has his head in a ebook. He remembers random sports activities trivia in extraordinary element from each the NBA and NFL. He’ll be out together with his household and say randomly, “Remember the 2009 Packers playoff game when this or that happened?” Recently, he referred to as a former school teammate and mentioned: “Let’s list off guys from the 1996 NBA Draft.”

Whenever his internal circle praises him for his play, he’ll textual content again that he must be higher together with his turnovers. “Kon never thinks he’s arrived,” Dildy says. “He never thinks he’s made it.”

But he has — at the least sufficient to be adopted. His household remembers leaving the resort throughout NBA Draft week to stroll about six blocks to the place draftees have been supposed to fulfill. They have been astounded to see dozens of individuals not simply ready outdoors the resort however following Knueppel all six blocks.

Knueppel has grow to be accustomed to folks asking him for autographs wherever he goes, however it’s nonetheless considerably jarring.

“It’s a little weird,” Knueppel says. “That people want your time or want an autograph or picture.”

It’s nonetheless that approach for his dad and mom, too. “Mind blown,” Chari says. “Continually.”

She just lately obtained fan mail for Kon from somebody in South Korea.

Chari and Kon I by no means anticipated any of this, both. “We were just like work hard, get as good as you can,” the daddy says. Sometimes they snigger, although, pondering perhaps it was meant to be, since Chari’s identify is definitely Charlotte. Besides sustaining religion and dealing exhausting, the elder Kon actually had one rule for his boys.

He grins: “Stay out of foul trouble.”

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All of the Knueppel boys play basketball, and so they all have “K” names. There’s Kager, 18, who’s 6-10 and a highschool junior; Kinston, 17, 6-6, sophomore; Kash, 15, 6-4, freshman; Kidman, 14, 5-10, eighth grade. Then, Chari jokes: “K2, 20, 6-6, college dropout.”

The household calls Kon “K2” to tell apart him from Kon I; however to Chari, irrespective of how well-known her son will get, he’ll at all times be “Konnie” to her.

When Knueppel was rising up, the house couldn’t be missed. They had an indication out entrance that learn: “KONPLEX.” They nonetheless do however have added a Hornets flag.

His father was a Hall of Fame member at Wisconsin Lutheran College. His mom, previously Chari Nordgaard, was a Hall of Famer on the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, changing into the college’s all-time main scorer. Chari was a publish participant, hitting buckets with finesse; Kon I used to be extra of an out of doors shooter. They agree Kon II is the very best shooter within the household, although the dad nonetheless performs in a males’s league that the household has run for over 20 years.

The household group chat is full of commentary from Knueppel’s Hornets and his father’s males’s league video games. And Knueppel isn’t too big-time to nonetheless be taught from his dad. Kon I just lately had a poor sport. He was 0 of 9 within the first quarter however stored capturing, ending up going 9-of-9 within the third.

“Boys, trust your reps,” he wrote within the chat.

Recently, a school coach got here to observe Kager play in his highschool sport. His NBA brother wrote some recommendation: “Play like you would when no one is watching. Make the right play. You will make mistakes. Do it aggressively. Dominate.”

Chari and Kon I at all times share the boys’ stats within the chat, too.

“People think it’s funny I still take stats for K2’s NBA games,” Chari says.

As obsessed as Knueppel is these days, he wasn’t instantly into hoops from the start. Quite the other.

“Dad,” 5-year-old Kon mentioned to his father. “I don’t like sports.”

When he was round 7, he and his brothers begged their dad and mom for a Nintendo Wii video-game system. Chari was initially in opposition to it, not wanting her children to grow to be hooked. But ultimately, she relented. The first sport Knueppel performed was NBA Jam, and he studied the gamers with a fervor. One day, his dad and mom got here house, and he was blurting out details about David Robinson and Tim Duncan.

But in his first yr of taking part in as a kindergartner, he went the entire season with out scoring. And the one time {that a} teammate dared go him the ball, younger Knueppel ducked. The ball sailed out of bounds.

But quickly, Knueppel started to fall in love with the sport, changing into aggressive when he wasn’t even within the sport. He wasn’t even taking part in. His dad was. When the daddy misplaced a match, younger Kon sat within the bleachers, crying.

His hoops IQ started to develop. He knew the place to make a go earlier than a teammate even reduce. His uncle, Jeff Nordgaard, who was drafted by the Bucks within the second spherical of the 1996 NBA Draft, coached him for a couple of years in AAU ball.

“When he was a fourth grader,” Nordgaard says, “he played like an upperclassman in high school.”

Knueppel soaked up a lot basketball from his dad and mom and at all times had his nostril in a basketball ebook, obsessive about each element of the sport he might discover. Not content material to only make photographs, he made positive, as he received to highschool and performed on the EYBL circuit, that he defended, too.

“He’s sneaky athletic,” says Michael Nau, his EYBL coach. “He guarded the one through the four.”

After Knueppel carried out nicely at a group camp at Marquette, the college’s coach, Shaka Smart, referred to as to supply him a scholarship. As quickly as Knueppel hung up the telephone, he didn’t start leaping round, celebrating. Instead, he mentioned to his mother: “Whoa. I gotta get a lot better.”

Even he didn’t consider in his personal hype; he was too centered on his enchancment. Chari knew he was getting the provide a few days earlier than he obtained it. She was elated — and will barely preserve it in.

“I expected him to be that thrilled, too,” Chari says. “He was certainly happy, but his immediate reaction was to make sure he got good enough to warrant the offer.”

Knueppel spent almost each evening after follow capturing, in response to Ryan Walz, his coach at Wisconsin Lutheran High in Milwaukee, who was apprehensive he may be placing an excessive amount of stress on his physique. When informed he would possibly have to decelerate, Knueppel appeared almost dejected.

“But coach,” he pleaded. “I love to shoot.”

The work paid off, as he headed to Duke, eager to problem himself in opposition to the very best gamers he might, even when some critics thought he would trip the bench.

“I wanted to get as good as I possibly could,” Knueppel says, “and I thought going to Duke and practicing against the best players every day would for sure make me better … and (have) the most fun competing against the best guys.”

His first pick-up sport on the college as a freshman, he didn’t attempt to play it cool or take it straightforward.

“I just remember him, like not getting on people, but wanting us to play faster and push the pace more and more,” says Neal Begovich, a former Duke teammate. “I remember on that first day being like, ‘Wow. This kid, he’s ready.’”

But inside, Knueppel was fighting homesickness. All his life, he had finished almost every thing together with his 4 youthful brothers and oldsters. Watching the Packers on Sundays. Rebounding for one another after faculty. Eating breakfast collectively. He felt so remoted when his dad and mom left him at Duke throughout his first week that he requested if he might FaceTime in the course of the household breakfast. He missed his associates from again house, too, who largely stayed within the space.

“That was hard,” Knueppel says, “being away from people that you care about.”

He was additionally being pushed to his restrict bodily. He was taking part in nicely — and his coaches even informed him so. Still, Knueppel didn’t agree. “I was being hard on myself,” he says.

The homesickness wouldn’t subside, both, because the summer time become fall. The official season would begin quickly. Chari was near driving the household Ford Expedition to Durham, N.C., and briefly shifting there. “We were really worried,” says Dildy, the Duke coach, “that Kon would go home before the year started and decide not to come back.”

One day, Knueppel requested his dad and mom: “What’s it worth? What’s all this for?” Did he lastly attain his restrict? He questioned every thing, however his dad and mom inspired him to maintain his spirits up. To keep in mind that all of the work he was placing in would repay for the remainder of his life. He would discover his approach. He can be OK.

Knueppel stored pushing however struggled, additionally on the court docket. He went 5 for 20 in opposition to Kentucky in a loss. And in opposition to No. 1 Kansas, Duke put the ball in his arms late, with simply three seconds remaining, and he turned the ball over. Duke fell in additional time. He berated himself greater than any of his coaches might have, a lot in order that Dildy would provide you with a couple of phrases for Knueppel to be taught to let go of errors: “Nobody cares. Nobody gives a s—.”

“You think the world is ending,” Dildy would inform him, “but nobody cares in the grand scheme of things. Keep working.”

Knueppel discovered to maintain a short-term reminiscence and started to blossom. He appeared like among the finest gamers within the nation. About a month into the season, Duke head coach Jon Scheyer informed Knueppel’s dad and mom: “Get ready for this train. Because this is how good your son is.”

But Knueppel had not simply discovered his footing, however his peace. He realized one thing that may put together him for the NBA greater than any drill or tryout might. “I don’t want to have all of these emotions. I just want to get out there and play,” his dad and mom keep in mind him telling them someday.

“I don’t want to be that person that is mad, sad or angry because of a basketball game, because of how I played,” Knueppel informed them. “I want to be grateful and happy and live my life not based on how I did on the basketball court.”

He would give his all every time he stepped on the ground however would not enable a poor efficiency to wound him. Define him. He would dedicate himself to being the very best participant he could possibly be however would attempt to preserve a balanced thoughts on the similar time. “Basketball,” he says, “it really isn’t truly who I am.”

He began to take pleasure in taking part in together with his teammates, even making associates on campus. He discovered to be unbiased, to cherish his time with household however make a approach for himself whereas away from them. And, as he can be named MVP within the ACC Tournament, when Flagg went down with an ankle damage, he proved how helpful he was — and the way helpful he might grow to be to an NBA franchise.

“Everybody thought we would lose,” Dildy says, “And Kon literally just put us on his shoulders and didn’t let us lose.”

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Soon, it was clear Knueppel might grow to be a lottery decide — one thing few might have predicted earlier than the season started. But when making ready for the draft, he sprained his ankle. “That was very scary,” Chari says. He was laid up on his household’s sofa for every week or extra, Chari remembers. He enlisted a chiropractor, PT, and scheduled orthopedic surgeon appointments. The ankle held him out of the mix drills, however he was capable of get well rapidly. He was chosen No. 4 total.

He rapidly meshed together with his new teammates — and coaches. Mueller, the assistant coach, can also be from Wisconsin. The two constructed belief early when he and Knueppel would watch Packers video games collectively.

“He’s an easy guy to root for because he always plays hard. He’s always trying to make the right play,” Mueller says. “And his teammates know that, they see that. They appreciate that, and they feed off of it.”

Knueppel even had all the group over to his house for dinner, again in November, throughout his Milwaukee homecoming journey. Kidman tried to dunk on LaMelo Ball within the household room hoop. Chari made 25 kilos of rooster fajitas with all of the fixings: beans, rice, corn; even churros and watermelon, too. They had one can of Cherry Crush left from an earlier celebration, however everybody wished it. Mason Plumlee ended up with it. Chari noticed Brandon Miller and Miles Bridges a second time after they got here to Milwaukee once more, and so they requested why they hadn’t been invited for dinner.

“They said they plan on an invite every time they come to town,” Chari says. “That is the best.”

It felt particular to her — and to Knueppel — that his teammates have been taken with attending to know him higher. Every single participant confirmed up.

Knueppel can usually be discovered hanging out with not simply his teammates, however workers, together with trainers, video staffers and even Dell Curry, Hornets broadcaster and legend. Even although he’s nonetheless only a rookie, he’s assuming some management duties already.

“He’s quick to call you out if you’re not competing at his level that you’re supposed to be competing at,” James says. But he balances that together with his personal “humility,” James continues, “to check himself first and make sure that he’s where he needs to be.”

He’s taking part in at an elite stage, averaging 18.8 factors, 5.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists and three.3 3-pointers in 32 minutes per sport. Twice, he was named Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month, main rookies in 3-pointers made, rating third total within the NBA in that class behind Stephen Curry and Donovan Mitchell.

Many again house in Milwaukee, individuals who aren’t even basketball followers, have informed Knueppel’s dad and mom that they’ve purchased NBA League Pass simply to observe him play — despite the fact that they don’t know the intricacies of the sport. They like that he seems to have stayed the identical, stored his Midwest values, regardless of his rising stardom. That seems to be the case.

His household nonetheless treats him the identical, too. His grandmother, Eleanor Nordgaard, nonetheless bakes him his favourite banana bread — moist and completely baked; on one journey, enviornment safety wouldn’t let her deliver within the Ziploc bag of bread to a sport, so the household hid it outdoors behind a rock and grabbed it after handy to Knueppel.

Most of his conversations together with his household, nowadays, aren’t even about basketball.

But the second he steps on the ground, he forgets about all of that. Where he’s from. What others consider him. He’s there to compete — and to have enjoyable.

And to be the killer his group wants him to be.