Hornets’ Rookies Already Impacting Team’s Record

For the first time in some time, the Charlotte Hornets were finally lauded for their draft night.

The Hornets — a perpetual lottery team for the last handful of years — haven’t had a sparkling draft history. While they’ve made some decent picks in recent years, their less-than-ideal picks have still managed to follow them.

At the 2025 NBA Draft, though, they were one of the consensus winners. They nabbed Duke standout Kon Knueppel at No. 4 — a pick that was widely seen as a good one due to his positive connectivity — as well as three others potential contributors in Liam McNeeley, Sion James and Ryan Kalkbrenner.

Now, Charlotte’s newbies are already seeing an impact on the team’s record.

The Hornets are 2-1 through three games, but there was no better examples of the rookies’ impact than Sunday’s victory over the Wizards. 

LaMelo Ball was the standout, going for 38 points, 13 assists and 13 rebounds, but the newbies backed him up.

Knueppel saw his best pro outing to date, adding 20 points on 7-for-12 shooting with six rebounds, two assists and one steal from the starting lineup. He stuck to his sharpshooting ways, hitting five of his nine triples. Wing Sion James managed a bench-high 13 points on 75% 3-pooint shooting, finish with a +13 plus-minus.