Thereâs a new name in the NBA record book. Rookie Kon Knueppel reached 100 career three-pointers faster than anyone in league history Monday night. The milestone came during the Charlotte Hornetsâ 139â132 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Knueppel entered the game needing one made three to set the mark. He hit it early. He finished the night with five three-pointers on nine attempts and scored 20 points.
It took him 29 games.
The previous record belonged to Lauri Markkanen, who reached 100 threes in 41 games during his rookie season with the Chicago Bulls in 2017â18. Knueppel cleared that number by nearly a dozen games.
Through Monday, Knueppel ranks second in the league in made three-pointers this season. Only Donovan Mitchell has more.
The performance also moved him past a recent Hornets benchmark. Brandon Miller had previously been the fastest Charlotte player to reach 100 career threes, doing so in 43 games during the 2023â24 season.
Kon Knueppel’s Rise to Stardom
GettyKon Knueppelâs rookie season is doing more than filling the box score. Itâs forcing Charlotte to rethink its long-term hierarchy and who the franchise may truly belong to.
Charlotte selected Knueppel fourth overall in the 2025 NBA Draft after one season at Duke University.
He made his NBA debut on October 22, scoring 11 points with five rebounds in a win over Brooklyn. The scoring picked up quickly after that. Within his first month, Knueppel posted several 20-point games, including a 30-point outing against Miami.
On November 14, he set a career high with 32 points in an overtime loss to Milwaukee. That stretch also included his fastest climb up the three-point leaderboard.
Knueppel reached 50 made threes in his 15th game. Two games later, he was already at 63, another rookie record. The 100th make against Cleveland pushed that run further.
He has appeared in every game this season and remained in Charlotteâs regular rotation. Most of his attempts come from beyond the arc, often early in possessions or off the catch.
There have been other stat lines along the way. On November 9, Knueppel finished with 19 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists against the Los Angeles Lakers. Later in the month, he earned a second Eastern Conference Player of the Week nomination.
He was named Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for November. The 100th three came less than three weeks later.
Knueppelâs shooting record has helped make the Hornets competitive during, but Charlotte is now 9â20 and still searching for traction as the season moves toward the midpoint. They find themselves in 12th place in the Eastern Conference standings, 14 games back of the first-place Detroit Pistons and 4.5 games behind the 10th seed Chicago Bulls for the last NBA playoffs play-in spot.
The Hornets have lost two straight and have won four of their last 10 games. A seven-game losing streak over the month of November quickly shot them down the standings, and has created an uphill climb if they hope to make a late postseason push.
Knueppel is second on the team in scoring, averaging 19.4 points per game, behind Miles Bridges, who is averaging 21.1 points per game.
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