NBA Summer League: No. 4 Pick Kon Knueppel Guide Hornets to the first title
Kon Knueppel’s Charlotte Hornets career has started decently.
Choice n. 4 of the 2025 NBA Draft led the Hornets to their first Summer League title, retaining a return of Sacramento Kings in a victory of 83-78 Sunday championships. Knueppel led his team with 21 points and made the largest shot of the night with a 3-pointer in the last minute.
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The shot brought the Hornets to four, which became important when Isaac Jones of the Kings made a 3-pointer 10 seconds later. The kings had to start dirty when the Hornets resumed the ball and never had the opportunity to complete what would have been a return of 18 points.
The effort earned the Knueppel Summer League MVP honor championship after the game.
Isaac Jones, who fed the Kington Kings to a G League championship last year, led Sacramento with 24 points and 11 rebounds. Rookie’s partner Ryan Kalkbrenner (15 points), Jaylen Sims (11), Kj Simpson (11) and DJ Rodman (11) joined Knueppel on the Hornets with a two -digit score.
Charlotte looked at a pace for an easy victory, building a two-digit advantage in the first quarter, but a 11-2 kings race to close the second quarter made a game again. The Hornets were big again to open the fourth quarter, but a cold stretch for most of the frame opened the door to the kings to uncomfortable the ending.
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The Hornets reached the championship game with a 4-0 record in the group game, in addition to the third best differential among the unbeaten teams, then a victory over Oklahoma City Thunder in the semifinal on Saturday. The Hornets in that game were sims, while Knueppel faced a head injury that let him wear a bandage on the forehead Sunday.
All that success was despite the injuries to two of the Hornets debutants, since the choice n. 29 Liam McNeley and the number 33 Pick Sion James both lost four games with Achille tendonitis and an hip injury respectively.
Knueppel will now enter the training field in Hornets, scheduled to block a starting job and Kalkbrenner will be considered for an important role in the paint after the trade of the departure center of the Hornets Mark Williams. The success will be more difficult to find in the regular season, but when you are a young team like the Hornet, you certainly want to see your young players do things like that.