The Charlotte Hornets have traded their two franchise cornerstones, LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges, while acquiring veteran pieces like Grayson Allen, Royce O’Neale, and Naz Reid, after spending multiple years building around that duo.
Despite a promising 44-38 record in the 2025-26 season, they seem to have now pivoted to Kon Knueppel and Brandon Miller as the core pillars of the franchise.
Following the trade, the 20-year-old Kon Knueppel sat down for an interview with Crazie Cast, where he addressed the front office’s potential rationale behind the trades and what he looks forward to the most in the coming season.
“Definitely a change. I think for fans it’s a little tough, just with like, ‘Man, we saw some success and we kind of saw it with that team,’ and I think the front office made the decision like, ‘Man, maybe we don’t see this long term,'” said Knueppel.
“So, I don’t know if ‘weren’t convinced’ is the right word, but they just wanted to move in a different direction. As a player, you just kinda gotta do business as usual. You gotta move forward and keep getting better, but we’re definitely gonna have to play a little differently than last year.”
“Obviously, we just have different personnel. I don’t know, I like the group we’ve got coming in. I’m excited. We got shooters out the wazoo, so that’ll be fun. I think we have got a good team,” he further added on what he expects next as the core pillar of the franchise.
“I feel like we can build off what we did last year and just keep getting better. I think that’s the focus for us as individuals, just keep getting better each day, working on our games. But going forward, I feel good about where we’re at as an organization.”
Kon Knueppel, in just his rookie season, has already impressed the Hornets’ front office enough to trade away their former cornerstones to rebuild around him and Brandon Miller.
In the 2025-26 season, Knueppel ended up averaging 18.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 3.4 assists while shooting 47.5% from the field and 42.5% from behind the three-point line. He finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting, not that far behind Cooper Flagg, despite not even being the second option on scoring until late last season.
Now that Knueppel will have a lot more ball usage in the backcourt following Ball’s trade, it will certainly be fascinating to see if he takes the All-Star leap in just his second year in the league.
But since this is a young team that is looking to gain experience, I don’t expect them to directly play winning basketball at the beginning of the regular season. They might need some time to figure it out.
However, they have drafted some promising young players and added some notable veteran talent to this roster, which makes them a team to keep an eye on for 2026-27. What do you think will be this team’s record with Kon Knueppel and Brandon Miller leading from the front? Let us know in the comments section.
