{"id":606351,"date":"2026-04-14T13:51:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T13:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/606351\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T13:51:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T13:51:09","slug":"kon-knueppel-will-play-crucial-role-in-play-in-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/606351\/","title":{"rendered":"Kon Knueppel will Play Crucial Role in Play-In Opener"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5e\">Tonight, the Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat will face off in the NBA\u2019s first postseason game, the Play-In bout between the Eastern Conference\u2019s ninth and tenth seeds, respectively.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5h\">The Play-In games have been a roaring success since their inception a few years ago, offering action ahead of the league\u2019s traditional seven-game series. The ninth and tenth seeds in the respective conferences will face off in a win-or-go-home game, advancing to the loser of the seventh and eighth seeds for a Playoffs bid.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5k\">Miami and Charlotte are set to kick things off, offering one of the more interesting matchups in the event.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5n\">Charlotte\u2019s been one of the best teams in the league since the turn of the new year, though they still weren\u2019t able to do enough in the back half of the season to earn an auto-bid to the postseason. Now, they\u2019ll need to beat Miami, and the loser of Orlando and Philadelphia to grab the eight-seed, which would pit them against the Pistons.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5q\">Interestingly, the Hornets\u2019 hopes of doing so could rest in the hands of one of its youngest and most inexperienced players: rookie Kon Knueppel.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5t\">A 6-foot-5 wing, Knueppel\u2019s been a revelation for the Hornets so far this season, seeing what is likely their best-ever debut season. Through 81 of 82 games, he averaged 18.5 points on 48% shooting, tacking on 5.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game in earning Rookie of the Year acclaim alongside his friend and former teammate in Cooper Flagg.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5w\">What Knueppel has done from beyond the arc is fairly incredible, leading the league in 3-pointers made at just 20-years-old, making 273 in total at a 43% clip from outside. He shot nearly eight per game, cashing in on 3.4 per contest. In doing so, he became the NBA\u2019s first-ever rookie to lead the league in 3-pointers made, smashing the rookie record previously held by Keegan Murray in the process.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Kon Knueppel is now the first rookie in NBA history to lead the league in three-pointers made.<\/p>\n<p>Unreal. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/FnnFWzBm9U\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/FnnFWzBm9U<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LegionHoops\/status\/2043487873538936976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">April 13, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"62\">Now, the Hornets need Knueppel to continue his play into the postseason, starting with Miami.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"65\">Knueppel\u2019s helped to make up a three-headed monster alongside LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller on the perimeter, with the trio combining for 58.8 points per game, largely from outside. Ball finished just one 3-pointer behind Knueppel on the season, becoming the first duo since Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson to sit atop the 3-point standings.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"68\">Rookies have historically had a hard time making an impact in the postseason, though given Knueppel&#8217;s unprecedented season, it doesn&#8217;t feel out of the realm of possibility that he could shake that off too. He&#8217;s an immensely high-feel player, able to rapidly process the right play to make on a possession to possession basis. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6b\">If the Hornets are to win their way to the Playoffs, Knueppel will need to be special. Though he&#8217;s made a habit of being just that over the last calendar year.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6e\">The Hornets and Heat will tip off at 6:30 p.m. from Spectrum Center in Charlotte, NC. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tonight, the Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat will face off in the NBA\u2019s first postseason game, the Play-In&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":606352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-606351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/606352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}