The Charlotte Hornets are getting a major piece back on Wednesday night, and the timing could hardly be better. Kon Knueppel is set to return to the lineup against the Brooklyn Nets after missing the first eight games of the season.
Knueppel had been sidelined by a left hamstring strain suffered just before Charlotte’s 2026 training camp. The team originally said he would be out through preseason and then re-evaluated in the first week of the regular season. His ramp-up picked up last week, when the Hornets assigned him to the Greensboro Swarm for practice on Thursday and recalled him a day later.
He was listed as questionable on Tuesday’s injury report before Charlotte upgraded him to available on Wednesday.
For a Hornets offense that has been stuck in neutral, the return matters. Through eight games, Charlotte sits last in the league in points per game at 97.4, field-goal percentage at 40.5%, and is second-to-last in 3-point percentage at 29.6%, assists at 21.3, and turnovers at 19.8.
Knueppel’s comeback also comes with another boost around the roster. On Monday, Charlotte got starting guard Coby White back after he missed the team’s first seven games with a calf injury. And on Wednesday, Grant Williams was assigned to the Swarm for practice as he works his way back from the hamstring injury that has kept him out of the first eight games of the regular season and all of preseason.
The Hornets are welcoming back the 2025 fourth overall pick, who finished runner-up for the NBA’s Rookie of the Year Award. Knueppel also led the league in 3-pointers made during the 2025-26 season and set a Hornets record for threes in a single season.
His rookie year gave Charlotte plenty to build on. He appeared in 81 games, averaged 18.5 points, and shot 42.5% from three on 7.9 attempts per night. Only three players last season matched that combination of volume and efficiency from deep: Kevin Durant, Tim Hardaway Jr, and Kon Knueppel.
That first season was a big one for the Hornets, who finished just one game shy of the playoffs for the first time in a decade. Knueppel was a central part of that push and won the Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month award in all but one month.
He ultimately missed out on Rookie of the Year by a single vote, losing to Duke teammate and No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg. Now, with his second season finally getting underway, Wednesday gives fans their first chance to see him back on the floor since Charlotte’s Play-In Tournament exit in April.
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Hornets Finally Get Kon Knueppel Back At A Desperate Time
The Hornets are getting a needed boost just as their offense has sputtered through the opening stretch. Kon Knueppel has been upgraded to available and is set to make his season debut Wednesday against Brooklyn after sitting out the first eight games with a left hamstring strain, giving Charlotte another option as it tries to dig out of the leagues offensive cellar.
There is still work to do on the injury front, though, with Grant Williams heading to the G League for practice as he continues to recover from a right hamstring strain. For a team already dealing with a sluggish start, getting one wing back helps, but the Hornets are still piecing together the rest of the rotation and waiting for more reinforcements to follow. [Read more 🡒]
Grant Williams Return Still Leaves Hornets With A Frontcourt Problem
Grant Williams road back from a right hamstring strain has taken him to the Hornets G League affiliate, where Charlotte sent him to Greensboro for practice as he continues working toward a return. He has missed the first eight games, and for a team trying to sort out its frontcourt rotation, every day without him matters a little more.
Williams absence carries extra weight because this is not just a routine setback. He already worked back from a torn ACL and other knee injuries suffered in November 2024, then returned to play in January 2026, so the Hornets are being careful with a player whose recent injury history has already tested their depth. For now, the only certainty is that Charlotte still does not have a firm timetable for when he will be back in game action. [Read more 🡒]
Hornets Already Face A November Test They Can't Afford To Fail
The Hornets opened the season with a promising 3-1 start, but the tone has shifted quickly over the past week as the losses have piled up and the margin for error has started to shrink. A busy November is now waiting, with Boston and Cleveland on the schedule along with a run of Western Conference opponents, and Charlotte has already shown it cannot afford to waste the chances that do come its way.
Coby Whites return offered a small lift, with the guard back in the lineup and able to give the rotation another option in his season debut. Still, the bigger issue remains the same: Charlotte has to clean up its ball control and play with more consistency if it wants to take advantage of a month that includes some winnable games, because the schedule is about to ask a lot more of this group than the record suggests it can comfortably give. [Read more 🡒]