The Charlotte Hornets are winners of the 2025 NBA Summer League. Former Duke Blue Devils star Kon Knueppel led the Hornets with 21 points and earned MVP honors in their 83-78 victory against the Sacramento Kings.
Though it doesn’t correlate to any regular season success, their Summer League title comes as a glimmer of hope for a Hornets team that has had a tough past few years. While Sacramento was going for their record-third Summer League championship, Charlotte won their first while finishing top-five in team points, rebounds, assists, and three-point shooting.
The Hornets were led by Knueppel, former Colorado star K.J. Simpson, UNC Wilmington’s Jaylen Sims, and Creighton All-American Ryan Kalkbrenner. All four ended Summer League as Charlotte’s top-four total points scorers, with Simpson leading the way with 96 points across six games. He was also one of three players on the Hornets’ Summer League team who started in multiple games during the 2024-25 season.
Knueppel On The Rise
The Hornets selected Knueppel with the fourth overall pick of the 2025 NBA Draft, and his strong Summer League performance showed the former Blue Devil looks ready to contribute to their young roster in the regular season. Through five games, he averaged 15.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 1.2 steals on 40% shooting from the field and 34.3% from deep.
Knueppel scored four points in the final 30 seconds of the championship game, including a three-pointer that gave the Hornets a key four-point lead.
“I think it’s a lot of guys who are going to be on the roster, and you always compete to win. So I think building winning habits, even if it is Summer League, is very beneficial,” Knueppel said after the game. “Like I said before, if you’re going to come here, you should win. So, that’s what we did.”
While the Hornets had a 16-point lead at the end of the first quarter, the Kings made a slow comeback to bring the lead back to just one in the final minutes of the game. Charlotte ended the night making five of their last six free throws to clinch the win while holding the Kings to 2/10 shooting from the field in the final four minutes of the game.
“It’s a championship game,” Chris Jent, Charlotte’s Summer League coach, said postgame. “That’s what everybody wants to see anyway, so it works out well. In order to win a championship, you’ve got to play through adversity.”
Knuppel and his Duke teammates Cooper Flagg and Khaman Maluach became the third trio of players from the same school to all be picked in the top ten of the NBA Draft.
Hornets Next Season
Over the past few seasons, Charlotte has been led by LaMelo Ball, drafted third overall by the team in the 2020 NBA Draft. Since he arrived, the Hornets have only had one winning season, and have yet to make the playoffs in a decade.
Despite having the third-worst combined record in the NBA since Ball joined the team, the Hornets now have a strong crop of young talent aiming to compete in a weakened Eastern Conference next season. Alongside Ball, Charlotte has Brandon Miller, Miles Bridges, Tre Mann, Nick Smith Jr., and Josh Green as young players still with a lot to prove.
Charlotte also made the offseason additions of Collin Sexton, Spencer Dinwiddie, Mason Plumlee, and Pat Connaughton. Along with them, the Hornets’ rookie class includes Knueppel, Kalkbrenner, and Liam McNeeley, all of whom averaged at least 14 points and four rebounds during the latest collegiate season on NCAA Tournament teams.
As one of the youngest teams in the NBA heading into next season, Charlotte has a long way to go before it sees real postseason success. They finished last season tied for the lowest points per game in the league, and ranked in the bottom six in both offensive and defensive rating during the regular season.
While a Summer League title doesn’t hold any true meaning for the regular season, it’s at least a start for a Hornets team that is desperate for any kind of success.
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