I Thought Kon Knueppel Couldn't Save Hornets' Appalling Offense

Through the first couple of weeks of the NBA season, the Charlotte Hornets have the worst offense in the NBA. That's not hyperbole. They rank 30th in offensive rating by 3.5 points. The Hornets, with all the shooting they possess, are not capable of scoring the basketball.

The fact that they have three wins and that Brandon Miller occasionally catches fire has perhaps blinded fans from that fact, but it has been ugly. Aside from offensive rebounding, they are pretty bad at everything else: shooting, assisting, and not turning the ball over. You know, the core aspects of offense in basketball.

There is maybe some hope on the horizon, though. Coby White just returned. Kon Knueppel's return is imminent. Having those two out there with Brandon Miller will help. The numbers from last year when those three were on the floor together don't lie:

134.2 offensive rating
44.7% from three
108.5 defensive rating
+25.8 net rating

I made sure to include LaMelo Ball in the data set, so I could see what the impact was when those three were on the floor with Ball off, since having all four could skew the data.

Charlotte Hornets guard Kon Knueppel (7), forward Grant Williams (2) and guard Coby White (3) on the bench | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Shockingly, the best lineup that involved some combination of those four players (including all four on the floor) was the White-Knueppel-Miller combination. It honestly wasn't even close.

So, that trio is pretty good and should improve the offense by a fair margin. If we extend the data set to include Miles Bridges and ensure he isn't on the floor (essentially to make it as accurate as what we might see this year, too), then it looks like this:

147.6 offensive rating
44.4% three point percentage
110.0 defensive rating
+37.6 net rating

It's a tiny, tiny sample size since those lineups didn't function much and White was only active for 21 games last year, but the numbers are mind-boggling.

When I first set out to write this article, I intended to showcase how ugly the 2026-27 offense has been and that it was probably beyond salvaging, even with Knueppel returning and White ramping back up.

I think I was wrong. Those numbers are unfathomably good. They're the reason the Hornets felt comfortable enough to move on from Ball in the first place. The trio of White, Knueppel, and Miller is explosive.

Time will tell if the new-look roster comes out the way the Hornets had hoped on the offensive end. One thing's for sure, though: it can't get worse. And based on the numbers, in a few weeks, it might be a whole lot better.

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