CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte Hornets guard Kon Knueppel walked into the postgame information convention and was greeted by a handful of tv cameras blocking his path to the podium when out of the blue out jumped head coach Charles Lee, who doused him with a bottle of water before embracing his star rookie.
There was lots of causes for the upstart Hornets to rejoice Thursday evening.
Knueppel made 4 3-pointers in Charlotte’s 127-107 win over the Phoenix Suns to set the Hornets’ franchise file for 3s in a season. Charlotte also took another step toward doubtlessly internet hosting a play-in match sport.
Knueppel is a large motive why.
He leads the league in 3s made with 261 and is in a battle with Dallas’ Cooper Flagg for NBA Rookie of the Year. Earlier this season Knueppel shattered the league rookie file for 3s in a season beforehand held by Sacramento’s Keegan Murray.
“I think maybe I’ve surpassed my expectations for myself a little bit,” Knueppel said.
Knueppel wasn’t sure how his rookie season would go after he felt as if he did not play properly in the offseason after being drafted No. 4 total by Duke. But he began to really feel snug once he got to coaching camp and was named an opening evening starter.
“I felt like I had enough to help this team — and we got a lot of talented players,” Knueppel said.
Knueppel needed 4 3s coming into the sport to break Kemba Walker’s franchise file of 260 set in 2018-19.
He got the third late in the third quarter and then had two open appears in the fourth, but missed both. Each time he noticed up to shoot, the followers in the enviornment rose to their ft in anticipation of him breaking the file — only to let out a groan after he missed.
“You definitely feel it,” Knueppel said of the crowd. “It makes the ones that go in real, real sweet, but it is also like pretty reassuring as a shooter when the ones you miss the crowd [lets out] an audible like ‘ooooh.’ That’s reassuring as a shooter that fans believe in that every shot you take is going in.”
The record-breaker came at the finish of a wild offensive sequence with Grant Williams discovering Knueppel in the left nook, where he swished a 3.
Also in the sport, the Suns’ Collin Gillespie set the workforce’s franchise file for 3-pointers in a season with his 227th basket from long distance, surpassing the mark of 226, set by Quentin Richardson (2004-05).
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