John Wall, Steve Nash & Blake Griffin Take Firm Stance in Knueppel

With each game, Charlotte Hornets guard Kon Knueppel seems to inch another step closer to locking up the NBA's Rookie of the Year award. Early on in the season, that momentum was riding with the No. 1 overall pick and his former Duke teammate, Cooper Flagg, but as the Hornets got hot and completely turned their season around, the love for Knueppel has continued to grow by the day.

Before their matchup with the San Antonio Spurs on Prime Video over the weekend, the entire pregame crew was on the same page with who the Rookie of the Year Award should go to.

Some major Kon love from some basketball icons

Cooper Flagg was a "lock" for ROTY... but it's clear the award belongs to Kon Knueppel.

🗣️ John Wall: "He should be clear-cut Rookie of the Year."
🗣️ Steve Nash: "The efficiency, consistenscy... it's outrageous."
🗣️ Blake Griffin: "Kon has been spectacular from start to finish." https://t.co/HyIu5ApW76 pic.twitter.com/nWxJAVfLDk
— r/CharlotteHornets (@HornetsReddit) March 15, 2026

John Wall: “I think he should be clear number one. We usually don’t put winning into Rookie of the Year, but he has changed the whole culture over there in Charlotte. Shoutout to Coach Lee also. But the way he came in, maturity, playing basketball the right way, doing the little things. No one expected him to be as good as he is. He surprised everybody. He should be clear-cut Rookie of the Year.”

Steve Nash: “Just such maturity. He comes in every day as a guy you can rely on. The efficiency, the consistency, it’s outrageous. The amount of threes he’s made, clearly, but off the move, off the dribble, pick-and-roll, kind of playing in a new fast style. Sometimes he’s handling, sometimes he’s screening, sometimes he’s running the space. His ability to make different types of reads and plays, and getting shots off. Maybe it wasn’t something we expected to translate this early, but everything’s translating.”

Blake Griffin: “The fact that he has impacted winning so much, to me, puts him over the top. It’s a clear-cut. We haven’t seen a rookie be this well-rounded, this poised, and also be this consistent and efficient. He really hasn’t had slumps. Cooper (Flagg) has had an unbelievable season and should get his flowers as well, but Kon has just been from start to finish, spectacular.”

Why he should win it

As those three said, he's impacted winning in a big way. It's not the sole determining factor, but when you consider where Charlotte has been compared to where they are now, it's night and day. He makes them a competent team and one that Eastern Conference teams shouldn't want to see in the postseason. Yes, Flagg may average more points, but he's also taking nearly three more shots per game than Knueppel, who is, on some nights, the Hornets' third scoring option behind Brandon Miller and LaMelo Ball. As long as he doesn't enter some unforeseen slump that eats up a good portion of the final 14 games, Knueppel should be the recipient of this year's Rookie of the Year award.

Subscribe to our FREE Newsletter for the latest news and updates on the Charlotte Hornets