The Charlotte Hornets nailed the 2025 NBA Draft.
That's the only real takeaway anyone can have looking back with a season of data. The Hornets are a postseason team with three rookies in their rotation, two of whom were second-round picks in Ryan Kalkbrenner and Sion James.
And of course, Kon Knueppel is the creme de al creme of their rookie class, the crown jewel of this franchise's entire draft history. Currently the frontrunner for Rookie of the Year, Knueppel is putting up a truly special rookie season.
What if the Hornets never had the chance to draft Knueppel, however? What if one of the teams ahead of them had realized the upside hiding in plain sight and taken Knueppel before the Hornets came onto the clock with the No. 4 pick? That is an alternate timeline that would change everything for the franchise.
Kon Knueppel has been fantastic
Knueppel has been that good - good enough that taking a step down to another player would be a significant hit. Only one other player in NBA history has combined his shooting volume and accuracy, and that is Stephen Curry.
The former Duke standout is averaging 19 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.5 assists and shooting 43.6 percent from deep on a whopping eight attempts per game. Those are video game numbers, and yet a rookie is putting them up.
Knueppel's immediate impact will not only win him Rookie of the Year (probably - that Cooper Flagg kid is plenty good) but it has propelled the Hornets to their best season in years. They are going to make the postseason and have a great chance to make the playoff field proper, and their underlying metrics suggest that they are a Top 10 team in the entire NBA.
The Hornets now have a bright future, thanks in large part to Kon Knueppel. But what if they lost him? How much would that future dim?
What if Kon Knueppel was off the board?
Over at sister-site Hoops Habit, we did a re-draft of the 2025 NBA Draft class, which has been fantastic to start their careers. Each of the first four picks -- Flagg, Dylan Harper, VJ Edgecombe and Knueppel -- look like multi-time All-Stars, and other names like Cedric Coward, Derik Queen and Collin Murray-Boyles have shown tremendous flashes as well. This is a special group.
In the re-draft, Flagg went No. 1 once again to the Dallas Mavericks. With the second pick, however, the Spurs pivoted - to drafting Kon Knueppel. He brings elite shooting to a roster that could use a boost in that area, and the already-elite Spurs would get even more dangerous.
That should be an encouraging sign that the Hornets nailed their pick -- that a Spurs team with a dynamic point guard in Dylan Harper would take Knueppel instead, at least in this hypothetical timeline -- but it leaves the Hornets in something of a bind.
VJ Edgecombe is great - but he's not Kon
The 76ers took Harper third, which left VJ Edgecombe to the Hornets with the fourth pick. That's a fantastic consolation prize, as Edgecombe has been off to a strong start to his career as well.
The Baylor product has started all 67 games he has played in this season for a team neck-and-neck with the Hornets in the Eastern Conference playoff race. He is averaging 16.1 points, 5.7 rebounds and four assists per game and leading the rookie class in steals with 1.4 per game. His shooting has been better than expected at 36 percent on 5.7 attempts per game.
Edgecombe will very likely make an All-Star Game in the future, and he looks like a great young player for the 76ers to build on. If the Hornets had landed him instead of Kon Knueppel, they would still be excited about the young, competitive guard who would help to transform their culture.
They would also be a worse team with a worse future. Knueppel has been truly special on every level. Edgecombe is a better defender, but probably not by as much as everyone would assume. And Knueppel's shooting, scoring and basketball feel are special to the point of historic. No one has put up this kind of shooting season as a rookie before, and virtually no one has put it up, period.
The Hornets have a shot to be truly great because they have Kon Knueppel; if they had VJ Edgecombe instead, they would merely be on an upward trajectory, with a "good" collection of players. Knueppel makes them special in a way no one else in the draft class could.
Thankfully, the Hornets don't have to go back and live life without Kon Knueppel. They did draft him in reality, and he is lighting up opponents on a nightly basis for Charlotte. The future is bright, and that's a reality the Hornets and their fans are excited to live in.