CHARLOTTE - The Hornets may be close to the start of the regular season, but they still don’t have answers on two important guards.
Coach Charles Lee said Sunday that Kon Knueppel and Coby White remain without a return timeline with Opening Night at Brooklyn three days away. Both players sat out the entire preseason, though Lee said they have begun adding contact work to their on-court sessions.
"I think there's still no timeline on those guys," Lee said. "They're making really good progress. Day by day, they've stepped up what they've been able to do on the court and adding some level of contact to their workouts, as well."
Knueppel has been out since the Hornets announced on Sept. 25 that he suffered a left hamstring injury during offseason on-court work. Grant Williams also hurt his right hamstring in that same stretch, and Charlotte said both players would be re-evaluated during the first week of the regular season.
Lee has already described both as trending positively earlier this month, and Knueppel said at media day on Sept. 28 that he wants to play in every game.
The rookie’s first NBA season was almost ironclad from an availability standpoint. Knueppel played in 81 games, missing only one after leaving a Dec. 26 game at Orlando with a right ankle injury.
Charlotte drafted Knueppel fourth overall out of Duke in the 2025 NBA Draft, and he immediately produced: 18.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game while shooting 47.5% from the field, 42.5% from 3-point range and 86.3% at the line. His 273 3-pointers led the NBA.
He also finished behind Duke teammate Cooper Flagg in Rookie of the Year voting, with Flagg winning the award 412 points to Knueppel’s 386. Both players were named to the All-Rookie First Team.
White’s situation remains unsettled as well. The Hornets said on Oct. 5 that he strained his left calf during training camp, which took place Sept. 29 through Oct. 2 at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, and that the injury would keep him out of the preseason.
That setback came with some familiar baggage. A calf injury delayed White’s Charlotte debut last season, too.
Charlotte acquired White from the Chicago Bulls before the February trade deadline, after he had appeared in 29 games for Chicago and started 26 of them. He averaged 18.6 points with the Bulls, with his final game for them coming Feb. 3.
He played 21 regular-season games for the Hornets after the trade, then delivered one of the biggest shots of Charlotte’s season in the play-in tournament on April 14, burying a 3-pointer in the final seconds of regulation against the Miami Heat to force overtime in a 127-126 win. Three nights later, Charlotte fell 121-90 at Orlando.
The Hornets finished 44-38 and ninth in the Eastern Conference.
White then signed a three-year, $74 million contract in July, part of a summer in which Charlotte also traded LaMelo Ball to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Miles Bridges to the Phoenix Suns.
Without White and Knueppel, Charlotte started Dennis Schröder, Brandon Miller, Royce O'Neale, Naz Reid and Moussa Diabaté in its Oct. 14 preseason game at Boston.
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Hornets End Preseason With The Same Problem Fans Feared
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