NEW YORK — I was in the Charlotte Hornets’ locker room before Monday’s game against the Brooklyn Nets and bumped into a reporter I knew. Before long, somehow, we began discussing ex-Net Derrick Favors and his 2010 draft class from which he was picked third overall and were trying to remember who went second between Favors and top pick John Wall.

“Evan Turner,” blurted a voice from the corner. It wasn’t a PR staffer or a wizened assistant coach or even one of the few Hornets veterans, such as Turner’s former teammate Mason Plumlee. No, this ball-knower was 20-year-old Hornets rookie Kon Knueppel, who was (checks notes) 4 years old when the Philadelphia 76ers selected Turner.

That scene gives you one glimpse into a basketball junkie from a basketball family, one whose parents were players themselves and whose dad still runs an invite-only, no-pigs-allowed pickup run in Milwaukee, where you get the boot if you don’t play the right way. (A younger Kon played in that league in eighth grade and through high school, which he said allowed him to adjust to adult physicality more quickly. More importantly, he said he never gave in to youthful rebellion and violated dad’s rules to go one-on-five.)

Tales of Knueppel’s basketball wholesomeness have made the rounds by now: how the whole team came to his family’s home for dinner when the Hornets recently played in Milwaukee, with one of his younger brothers reportedly attempting to posterize a startled LaMelo Ball; or how 2,000 of his friends, neighbors, coaches, teammates and more came to see the Hornets play the Bucks that night (they even canceled their games!); or how he’s just as committed as pops to playing the right way at both ends.

But that’s only a small part of the story and would be a relatively dull one if he weren’t also incredibly good at basketball. You can go to the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference and find 50 people who can recite the 2010 NBA Draft order backward; alas, none of them are averaging 18.3 points per game while shooting 41.7 percent from 3 in their rookie season. Knueppel has been so good that he’s put genuine pressure on former Duke teammate Cooper Flagg in the Rookie of the Year race and seems all but a shoo-in for first-team All-Rookie.

The fourth pick in the 2025 draft, Knueppel not only leads all rookies in scoring, but his 5.7 boards per game have him shockingly close to Flagg’s output (6.6). He’s done it efficiently, too: Of the nine rookies who have mustered double-figure scoring averages, Knueppel’s 62.2 true shooting percentage laps the field.

Those shooting percentages point to Knueppel’s obvious skill as a marksman; in addition to the 3s, he’s hitting 89.8 percent from the line, and his pregame routine of firing lasers off movement from all over the court makes it pretty clear that it is not a small-sample fluke. Underlying that skill set, however, is a strength and physicality that has allowed his game to translate well (and quickly) inside the arc, too.

In addition to the surprise rebounding numbers, Knueppel is shooting 54.5 percent from inside the arc, and his ability to nudge aside defenders is a big key to his effectiveness in the paint. Once he gets a shoulder past you, you’re cooked.

It’s subtle in this next clip, but watch how his off arm keeps Ziaire Williams at bay while he drives into the paint and gets off a nifty reverse finish Monday against the Nets:

That skill was something Hornets coaches noticed right away.

“Even during his pre-draft workout, it was one of the things I saw as he did defensive drills,” Hornets coach Charles Lee said. “Sometimes, his ability to move laterally, you were like, ‘I don’t know.’ But every time somebody started to put the ball down, he’d try to find a way to put a hand on him or use his chest or use his body. So, he definitely relies on his physicality on both ends of the court.”

Watch here as one of the most physical guards in the league, the New York Knicks’ Jalen Brunson, tries to play bumper cars with Knueppel and ends up shooting an off-balance shot that leaves him behind the stanchion:

“I think that’s a big part of my game,” the 6-foot-6 Knueppel said of his thicker build and physicality. “I’m a stronger guy, a bigger kid. So, being able to use my body in that way, I think, is important.”

And yet, Knueppel feels like he can still improve a lot at mastering the little bumps that can give him more separation off the dribble.

“To be honest, I don’t feel like I’m very good at it,” he said. “I feel like there are guys that are very good, like Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander]’s very good at getting to his midrange with his off arm. Playing against Coby White, he was very good at getting his arm below you.”

Knueppel then launched into the dangers of getting the off arm too high and generating offensive fouls and how a low angle is key. (He’s picked up only two offensive fouls all season.)

In fact, talking to Knueppel about how he can improve ends up in a word-gusher about different finishing methods he’s learning and mastering the new liberties he can take with his gather step that would have been traveling calls in colleges.

In particular, he’s working on two tricks that will help him be more proficient and draw more fouls inside the arc: the “low gather” (picture James Harden grabbing the ball ankle-high from his last dribble and then ripping up through defenders’ arms into a shot) and the “slow steps” of a high gather (now imagine Harrison Barnes’ shot-faking in the midst of one of his patented “Euro stop” finishes.)

“You’re faking a pass and then getting your two steps,” Knueppel said. “The gather rules in the NBA are a little different than college.”

That commitment to improvement has made an impression in Charlotte.

“In the short term,” Lee said, “I’ve seen a consistent competitor, a guy that approaches every day with the mindset of how can he get better, but how can he also help his teammates get better? And how can he impact winning in any possible situation?

“I’ve been really impressed with the defensive activity that he’s had and the defensive presence. He’s taken to personnel tendencies really fast for a young player in the league. Sometimes, you’re getting so much information, and you’re overwhelmed, but he wants more of it. He’s like, ‘Hey, what else? What other edge can I get on the competition?’ And so, he does a lot of film study, and I think that he’s been able to then take it to the court and apply it pretty quickly.

“[And] offensively, he is a jack of all trades. He does it with the ball in his hands; he’s able to get to the basket. He’s also made some of the right passing plays and rim reads and pick-and-roll and also on close-out situations, and then, he’s shooting a 3 at a really high clip. So, that’s a well-rounded basketball player. And I think the next level of next steps for him will just be to continue to do it and keep getting better and better.”

That jack-of-all-trades part at the offensive end still might be underplayed, actually. Mixed in with the jump shots and physical finishes have also been some moments of straight-up cooking; for instance, check out this low crossover that left a capable defender (Nets big man Nic Claxton) in the dust for a short pull-up.

Working out of ball screens, in particular, Knueppel can weaponize his long-range shooting ability that forces bigs to come to the level of the screen, and then rely on his strength to get into a good shot closer to the bucket. The play above is one example, but he can also make reads out of these actions to set up other shooters.

Here’s a snake pick-and-roll off a left-handed dribble, where his eye comes off the roll man and spots Collin Sexton floating to the far corner:

Knueppel still has his warts and takes his lump on some nights; he’s a 20-year-old rookie playing for one of the league’s worst teams. Like a lot of rookies, he needs to reduce his turnovers, draw more fouls to leverage his money free-throw shooting and master staying one step ahead of the chess pieces on defense to offset his average physical tools.

But Charlotte’s small market and Knueppel’s unassuming nature have perhaps left him under the radar when it comes to this stellar rookie class. (Admittedly, his Tuesday appearance on “The Tonight Show” may change that a bit.)

Let’s put it this way: Fifteen years from now, it feels like people will have a much easier time remembering who went fourth in the 2025 draft.