Kon Knueppel officially has Charles Barkley’s attention

The Charlotte Hornets are trying to inch their way to a play-in spot in the Eastern Conference, and one of the major reasons why they could do is the play of rookie sensation the play of rookie sensation Kon Knueppel. Knueppel has firmly established himself as a frontrunner for the NBA’s Rookie of the Year Award, and he’s drawn the attention several big names, including former NBA star Charles Barkley.

During a recent segment of ‘Inside The NBA,’ Charles Barkley explained why he is a fan of the Hornets rising star.

“That young man Kon Knueppel, is flat-out balling,” Barkley said. Barkley also went on to say that although the Hornets have been bad for quite some time, they are playing very hard this season.

The Hornets are currently 18-28 and in 12th place in the Eastern Conference standings. They are three and a half games back of the No. 10 seed Atlanta Hawks and a play-in spot. They are well on their way to far surpassing last season’s win total of 19 games.

The Hornets may not have gotten the No. 1 pick in last year’s draft, but they look like they came away with a potential franchise star. Knueppel has appeared in 44 of the Hornets’ 46 games this season, including 43 starts, at a little over 32 minutes per game.

Knueppel has been averaging 19.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists with splits of 48.2 percent shooting from the field, 42.3 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 90 percent shooting from the free-throw line. He leads all rookies in scoring, is top-10 in rebounds and top-five in assists.

He was part of a Duke starting five, all of whom were drafted including current Hornets teammate Sion James. The others are Cooper Flagg, Khaman Maluach and Tyrese Procter.

With Knueppel in the fold, the Hornets have a very solid young quartet including LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller and Miles Bridges.