Rookie leads league in threes
Hornets rookie Kon Knueppel finished the regular season as the NBA’s leader in made 3-pointers — the first rookie in league history to do so. He closed the year with 270 triples to teammate LaMelo Ball’s 267 and sealed the milestone in Charlotte’s 110–96 win over the New York Knicks (therookiewire.usatoday.com).
Kon Knueppel ended the regular season atop the National Basketball Association in made 3-pointers, becoming the first rookie ever to lead the league in that category. (usatoday.com) The Charlotte Hornets rookie finished with 270 made threes, three more than teammate LaMelo Ball’s 267, and hit three more in Charlotte’s 110-96 win over the New York Knicks on Sunday, April 12. (usatoday.com) StatMuse listed Knueppel as the league leader at 270 made threes for the 2025-26 season, with Ball next among Charlotte players, and the Associated Press reported the Knicks game as the finale that closed the race. (statmuse.com) (apnews.com) The feat stands out because rookies usually enter the league as secondary scorers, not as the player who makes more threes than every veteran over an 82-game schedule. Knueppel did it in his first National Basketball Association season after Charlotte drafted him fourth overall out of Duke in June 2025. (usatoday.com) (nba.com) His shooting volume was not small-sample noise. StatMuse credited him with 270 makes on 632 attempts in 80 games, a 42.7 percent clip, while Basketball-Reference lists his National Basketball Association debut on October 22, 2025. (statmuse.com) (basketball-reference.com) Charlotte’s backcourt made the story bigger. Reporting after the finale noted that Knueppel and Ball both cleared 270 made threes, matching a benchmark previously associated with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson in Golden State. (nationaltoday.com) (sports.yahoo.com) The regular-season finish also came in a game with standings stakes for Charlotte. The Associated Press reported that the Hornets’ win over New York clinched the No. 9 seed in the Eastern Conference and a home play-in game. (apnews.com) Knueppel entered the league with a reputation as a polished shooter from Wisconsin Lutheran High School and Duke, but he closed his rookie year with a line no first-year player had reached before. On a Hornets team built around LaMelo Ball’s offense, the rookie finished the season as the National Basketball Association’s most prolific 3-point maker. (basketball-reference.com) (usatoday.com)
