The Charlotte Hornets might have stumbled in a 128-120 loss to the Miami Heat, but don’t let the final score fool you, this franchise is finally catching a real spark. After a dismal start where they won only 14 of their first 40 games, Charlotte has completely flipped the script, winning 18 of their last 24.
They are currently charging toward a play-in tournament spot, looking to end their painful nine-season postseason drought. This is the longest active streak in the NBA and dates back to the Kemba Walker era in 2016..
What’s truly exciting for the Queen City is the age of this core; with LaMelo Ball (24), Brandon Miller (23), and Moussa Diabat (24) leading the charge, it’s the Rookie of the Year frontrunner Kon Knueppel who is grabbing the biggest headlines. At just 20 years old, Knueppel has already set the rookie record for three-pointers and leads the entire NBA in that category this season, largely because he’s been a workhorse, missing only one of the team’s 64 games.
Kon Knueppel’s Historic Rookie Shooting Season and the Curry Comparison
With 222 triples already on the books and an average of 3.5 per game, Knueppel is on a collision course with elite history. If he stays healthy for the remainder of the schedule, he is projected to finish with nearly 300 made threes. If he hits that mark, he would become just the 11th player in NBA history to do so.
Of course, the gold standard remains Stephen Curry, who has reached the 300-mark six times, including his “unbreakable” record of 402 during his 2016 unanimous MVP season.
Knueppel is well aware of the mountain he’s trying to climb, but he draws a line between a single-season sprint and a career-long marathon. “I think the 400 3s in a season, I view that as pretty close to unbreakable. It’s up there in NBA history,” the rookie admitted. However, he sees Curry’s career total, currently a staggering 4,233, as a reachable target.
His logic? Curry revolutionized the game so much that modern players now start their careers shooting at a volume that didn’t exist in 2009. “I don’t know if the total is as unbreakable, just because early in his career he missed some games, missed some time with the ankles, but also just wasn’t shooting as many as maybe players are shooting today,” Knueppel noted, showing the kind of bold confidence you want in a franchise cornerstone.
The Math of Greatness: What It Would Actually Take to Surpass Stephen Curry’s Record
While it’s refreshing to see a young player with that level of self-belief, the cold, hard math reveals just how daunting Curry’s shadow really is. To even reach Curry’s current mark of 4,233, a number that will continue to climb as the Warriors legend likely has at least three or more high-level seasons left, Knueppel would need to be a model of supernatural consistency.
To put it in perspective, if Knueppel plays 15 consecutive seasons at an elite level, he would need to average roughly 282 three-pointers every single year. When you look at it that way, you truly begin to appreciate that what Curry has done is a “one-of-one” phenomenon.
Knueppel is undoubtedly a premier threat from deep and has the advantage of playing in a high-volume era, but catching Steph requires more than just a hot start; it requires a decade and a half of near-perfect health and accuracy. For now, the rookie is doing exactly what he needs to do: making the Hornets relevant again and giving the “Greatest Shooter of All Time” a reason to look over his shoulder.
