Kon Knueppel wins 3‑Point Contest

Kon Knueppel finished the 2025-26 regular season with 273 made three-pointers, one more than Charlotte teammate LaMelo Ball’s 272. (nba.com) That one-shot margin put Knueppel atop the entire National Basketball Association in made threes, and it made him the first rookie ever to lead the league in that category. (sportingnews.com) Charlotte’s pair also became just the second set of teammates to each make at least 270 threes in one season, joining Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson of Golden State in 2015-16 and 2022-23. (nba.com) The race turned on the final day of the season, when Ball hit five threes in a 110-96 win over the New York Knicks but still finished one behind Knueppel. Charlotte closed 44-38 and locked in the No. 9 seed in the Eastern Conference play-in. (sports.yahoo.com) (espn.com) Knueppel arrived with a shooting reputation from Duke, where he shot 41 percent from three and 91 percent from the free-throw line in his only college season before Charlotte drafted him No. 4 in 2025. (nba.com 1) (nba.com 2) (goduke.com) Ball’s side of the story is volume as much as accuracy: he finished second in the league in made threes while shooting 36.8 percent from beyond the arc, while Knueppel led the league on 42.5 percent shooting, according to season-end reporting. (sfgate.com) The numbers landed as Charlotte heads into a win-or-go-home game against Miami on Tuesday, April 14, at Spectrum Center. It is the Hornets’ first postseason game at home since 2016. (sports.yahoo.com) (espn.com) The closer look is simple: this was not a one-night contest result but a season-long shooting race, decided by a single make and framed by a rare teammate benchmark. Charlotte now takes that shooting into the play-in with Knueppel first and Ball second on the league leaderboard. (nba.com)