Over the years, the NBA has produced a lot of talented and big-time shot-makers from beyond the arc, but only a select few have truly separated themselves from the rest. While many take years to reach that level, Kon Knueppel of the Charlotte Hornets is doing all of that in just his first professional season. Here’s how the sharpshooting Hornet has quickly risen into the NBA’s elite shooting ranks.
The fourth overall pick has already made plenty of noise this season. First, he became the fastest player in NBA history to hit 100 career three-pointers, doing so in just 29 games. For context, the previous record was held by Lauri Markkanen, who reached it in 41 games. Knueppel kept up that pace through his first 50 games, recording 166 threes—the most ever at this point and matching Stephen Curry’s entire rookie-year record. With that consistency, he also became the first rookie this season to record 1,000 career points, and he did it before the All-Star break.
Most recently, he became the only rookie selected for this year’s Three-Point Contest. And he didn’t just participate; he was one of the favorites and certainly lived up to the hype, finishing in the top three of the opening round alongside former champions.
Kon Knueppel by the Numbers
If those aren’t enough to prove his caliber, he also has the numbers to back it up. As of mid-February 2026, the rookie sits second in the league with 183 total three-pointers—just two behind Donovan Mitchell. He also ranks sixth with 3.4 threes made per game, despite not cracking the top 10 in attempts. Stephen Curry and Luka Doncic lead the league in that category with 11.5 and 10.3 attempts, respectively.
While that volume is already impressive, it stands out even more because of his efficiency: he is shooting 43.1%, the highest mark among the 20 players with at least 351 attempts this year. Furthermore, he is tied for second place with 15 games of five or more three-pointers.
On top of all that, Knueppel is doing his thing with a rebuilding, young Hornets squad. For most of the past decade, Charlotte has been a fixture in the lower tier of the league. The Hornets finished with a losing record nine times in that span and were even worse in the last two years, finishing around the 20-win mark. It was a similar downward path to start the year, but they have since turned it around, and Knueppel was a consistent part of that. With such a young team, staying efficient is a challenge—though not for Kon. He is currently on pace for a 50/40/90 season while averaging close to 19 points per game, potentially becoming the first rookie ever to maintain that efficiency at his volume.
Can Kon Knueppel Be the New GOAT Shooter?
For years, Stephen Curry has firmly established himself as the undisputed king of the three-point line, earning numerous achievements and setting multiple records in the process.
Kon Knueppel, though, might ultimately make his way into that conversation. Given how the modern era has evolved, this sharpshooting rookie already has the jump-start he needs, outperforming Curry’s rookie numbers. But it’s also worth considering that Curry didn’t reach the level that defined him until the 2015–16 season, when he began averaging his now-usual four to five threes per game.
If Knueppel plays at that level and makes threes at that pace, he would need just 11 years to reach Curry’s all-time record—only James Harden (2018–19, 2019–20) and Klay Thompson (2022–23) joined Curry in reaching that mark. Even so, a top-tier shooter in today’s game, as Knueppel is proving to be, should have no trouble chasing that record over a long career.
This isn’t to say Kon Knueppel will supplant Steph Curry as the NBA’s all-time greatest shooter. But if there’s anyone who can make a serious run at doing so, then this sharpshooting rookie might be the guy.
