Kon Knueppel‘s three-point record is now official, and it is historic. The Charlotte Hornets rookie finished the 2025-26 NBA regular season with 273 made three-pointers, topping the entire league and becoming the first rookie in NBA history to lead the league in three-pointers made. He also holds the all-time rookie record in made threes. No rookie has done it before. Not LeBron James. Stephen Curry didn’t do it. Not even Luka Doncic. Knueppel did it in his first year.
Kon Knueppel: First Rookie In NBA History To Lead NBA In Threes
Final 2025-26 NBA Three-Pointers Made Leaderboard
- Kon Knueppel (Charlotte Hornets) – 273
- LaMelo Ball (Charlotte Hornets) – 272
- Luka Doncic (Los Angeles Lakers) – 254
As remarkable as Kon Knueppel’s record stands on its own, the number directly beneath him makes it even more extraordinary. Ball finished second, meaning the Charlotte Hornets placed two players in the top two spots on the entire league’s three-point leaderboard. In fact, only one pair of teammates has ever done that before: Curry and Klay Thompson, who achieved it in four consecutive seasons during Golden State’s dynasty years. Now, Knueppel and Ball are in that company.
How Knueppel Made It Possible
Volume alone does not explain this. Rather, the system does. Charlotte runs one of the most unselfish offences in the league, with Ball constantly drawing defenders and creating open looks for teammates through his elite passing. Knueppel’s off-ball movement is genuinely elite for a first-year player. He reads cuts, exploits defensive attention on Ball and Brandon Miller, and arrives at the catch-and-shoot spot with timing that most veterans take years to develop. That basketball IQ, combined with Lee’s commitment to giving his rookie license to shoot, created the foundation for a historic season.
Equally important, Knueppel’s teammates played a crucial role. Ball’s 7.2 assists per game and his gravitational pull on defenses directly generated Knueppel’s best looks. Without that environment, the volume simply does not exist. Furthermore, the fact that Charlotte averaged 43.3 three-point attempts per game, second in the entire NBA, meant the attempts were always there. Knueppel capitalized with a 42.7% conversion rate, which held firm across the full 81 games he played.
The Injuries That Opened The Door
Context matters here. Several elite three-point shooters who would ordinarily challenge for this title simply could not. Damian Lillard sat out the entire 2025-26 season recovering from a torn Achilles suffered in last year’s playoffs. Lillard has won the NBA three-point contest three times and regularly threatens the top of this leaderboard when healthy. Therefore, his absence this season was significant.
Similarly, Curry, the NBA’s all-time three-point leader, missed 40 games due to injury. Without that extended absence, Curry’s assault on the leaderboard would have been relentless. Meanwhile, Doncic, who still finished third with 254, suffered a left hamstring strain against Oklahoma City in early April and missed the final stretch of the regular season. At the rate he was shooting, Doncic absolutely had the pace to challenge for the top spot. Instead, a freak injury removed him from the race.
None of that diminishes what Knueppel achieved. Opportunities exist in every season. Taking full advantage of them over 82 games, as a rookie, against every defense in the league, is not something injuries simply gift to a player.
LaMelo’s Surge Makes It A True Race
For most of the season, Knueppel led this race comfortably. However, over the final five games, Ball caught fire, lifting his three-point percentage from 36.4% on the season to 39.7% across that closing stretch. That surge pushed Ball to within one made three of his own teammate entering the final night. The difference between first and second came down to a single shot over the course of an entire NBA season.
How Hard Will This Record Be To Break?
Breaking Kon Knueppel’s three-point record will be extremely hard. The barrier here is not just shooting ability. Nearly every star in this league can shoot threes at a high level. However, the barrier is trust. NBA coaches, particularly in a player’s rookie season, rarely give first-year players the freedom to launch volume threes game after game. Most rookies spend their first year earning minutes, not leading the league in any statistical category. The combination of exceptional talent, a perfect offensive system, elite teammates, and a head coach willing to trust a 20-year-old with that kind of shooting license is extraordinarily rare. For another rookie to replicate it, every single piece would need to align simultaneously. That is the real reason this record may stand for a long time.
Featured Image: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
