Kon Knueppel now the favorite to win NBA Rookie of the Year
· Yahoo Sports
The Charlotte Hornets moved above .500 for the first time in the 2025-26 season (32-31) with a 118-89 win over Boston on March 4, the latest impressive victory for a team squarely in the hunt for a playoff spot.
Visit salonsustainability.club for more information.
The Hornets have won six straight games by 15 or more points, the longest such streak by any team since the 2017-18 Golden State Warriors and tied for the second-longest streak of its kind in NBA history.
So much of Charlotte's success has been tied to Kon Knueppel, the Wisconsin Lutheran High School alumnus having an electric rookie season. He's up to 19.2 points per game, 3.4 assists and 5.5 rebounds for Charlotte, with a 43.6% shooting mark from three-point range and 216 makes from beyond the arc, best in the NBA and already an NBA rookie record.
Second-place Tyrese Maxey of Philadelphia has 199 this season, well off the pace.
Knueppel, chosen fourth in the draft, appears to have bypassed his college roommate and the No. 1 overall pick, Cooper Flagg of Dallas as the odds-on favorite to win the league's Rookie of the Year award.
BetMGM puts Knueppel's odds at minus-170, compared to plus-130 for Flagg and plus-12500 for Philadelphia's V.J. Edgecombe.
FanDuel gives Knueppel minus-150 odds, compared to plus-120 for Flagg.
If he won, Knueppel would be the first Wisconsinite to win the award, which dates to 1953.
It can't hurt that Charlotte is just 2½ games behind Philadelphia for the No. 6 seed, the final spot in the playoff field that doesn't have to make its way through the play-in. With a five-game lead over the nearest threat to unseat Charlotte from play-in status, Milwaukee, it's looking safe that the Hornets will at least play in that portion of the postseason.
Dallas and Flagg are eight games out of the nearest play-in spot in the West. Flagg scores 20.4 points per game, with 6.6 rebounds and 4.1 assists.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Kon Knueppel of Hornets favored to win NBA Rookie of the Year