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Duke Reacts to Big Kon Knueppel News on Tuesday

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Evan Massey | Last updated May 6, 2025 8:35 AM ET

The Duke Blue Devils will be well represented during the 2025 NBA draft. Of course, Cooper Flagg is widely expected to be the No. 1 overall pick, regardless of which team wins the draft lottery.

While Flagg is the likely No. 1 overall pick, he's not the only Duke player projected to be a top-10 pick. Fellow freshman Kon Knueppel also declared for the draft. He has received many projections in the top-10 himself.

During the 2024-25 college basketball season, Knueppel made a massive impact. He may not have received the national hype that Flagg got, but he was a top-tier player.

In the 39 games he played during his freshman year, Knueppel averaged 14.4 points per game to go along with 4.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and one steal. He also shot 47.9% from the floor overall and connected on 40.6% of his 3-point attempts.

Early on Tuesday morning, the Blue Devils took to X to react to some big news about Knueppel that was reported on Monday. He threw out the first pitch ahead of a Milwaukee Brewers game.

"Let’s go @Kon2Knueppel," the post read.

Let’s go @Kon2Knueppel https://t.co/9OZmPYOkYS
— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) May 6, 2025

Where could the talented sharpshooter land in the upcoming 2025 NBA draft? There have been quite a few predictions.

Most recently, Adam Finkelstein of CBS Sports has projected that Knueppel will be selected by the Brooklyn Nets with the No. 6 overall pick in the first round.

"The Nets need some long-term building blocks in the backcourt and what makes Knueppel appealing is the high floor," he wrote. "It's hard to imagine him not becoming a productive NBA player who can help drive winning. He has a terrific overlap of size, skill, and court awareness. He's a scoring threat at multiple levels and capable of initiating offense as well. Being better than expected defensively doesn't hurt either."

No matter where Knueppel ends up, he'll bring elite 3-point shooting with him. That is a premium at the NBA level and plenty of teams would love to add him to their roster.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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