Three‑point contest thriller

Kon Knueppel finished one three-pointer ahead of LaMelo Ball in the National Basketball Association’s season-long race, closing the Charlotte Hornets’ regular season as the league leader in made threes. (nba.com) (sports.yahoo.com) The Hornets beat the New York Knicks 110-96 on Sunday, April 12, and Knueppel hit three more threes in the finale while Charlotte clinched the No. 9 seed and a home Eastern Conference play-in game. (espn.com) (nba.com) Charlotte’s official roster page lists Knueppel at 18.5 points per game as a 20-year-old rookie, and multiple reports on Sunday said he ended the season with 273 made threes to Ball’s 272. (nba.com) (sports.yahoo.com) (altasports.ph) That total put the Hornets guards in a rare category: ESPN Insights said Ball and Knueppel became the only teammates besides Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson to each make 270 threes in a season. Curry and Thompson did it in 2015-16 and again in 2022-23. (sports.yahoo.com) The comparison to Curry and Thompson comes from volume, not just accuracy. Finishing first and second in total makes on the same team is unusual because most offenses split long-range shots across several players, while Charlotte spent the season leaning on Ball’s pull-up range and Knueppel’s spot-up shooting. (basketnews.com) (nba.com) Knueppel’s finish also landed as a rookie milestone. Basketball-Reference lists him as the No. 4 pick in the 2025 National Basketball Association draft and a first-year player, while Sunday coverage described him as the first rookie to lead the league in made threes. (basketball-reference.com) (sports.yahoo.com) Ball’s side of the duel mattered too, because Charlotte did not get one hot month from a single shooter. The Hornets got 272 makes from a 24-year-old lead guard and 273 from a rookie wing, then carried that pairing into the play-in after a 44-38 finish. (nba.com) (espn.com) The season ended with Knueppel one make in front, but the bigger number was Charlotte’s combined total. By April 12, the Hornets had turned a one-shot race into a two-player benchmark that had previously belonged to Golden State’s most famous shooting tandem. (sports.yahoo.com 1) (sports.yahoo.com 2)