Worthy of being No. 1 on the rookie list! The new Queen Bee hit 28+8+7 to break the historical record. There is not much time left for three goals.

Deserving of being number one on the rookie list! The new Queen Bee Knupel hit 28+8+7 to break the historical record. The old Queen Bee scored three goals and needs to recognize the reality. There is not much time left for him.

After regretfully losing to the Raptors in the previous game, the Hornets faced off against the Pacers. The latter, as the overall runner-up last season, became the worst team this season. They suffered serious injuries for a long time at the beginning of the season. Fortunately, the injured have gradually returned recently. In the end, the Pacers defeated the Hornets 127-118 to end their long 8-game losing streak.

Although the Hornets have suffered a 4-game losing streak and continue to rank fourth from the bottom in the Eastern Conference, for the Hornets whose season goal is to perform poorly, the outcome of the game does not matter. After all, the team has been performing poorly for several consecutive seasons.

Compared with the outcome of the game, the growth of young players deserves more attention from the Hornets. Among them, the new queen Knupel continues to break records, and the old queen three goals should recognize the reality.

Knupper broke the record

Knuupel, the No. 4 pick, worked hard for 41 minutes, making 11 of 20 shots, including 5 of 12 three-pointers. He efficiently scored a game-high 28 points, plus 8 rebounds and 7 assists.

With this performance, Knupper has hit 50 three-pointers in the first 15 games of his career, becoming the fastest player in NBA history to achieve this performance.

This performance is also the epitome of No. 4 pick Knupel's hot performance since the beginning of the season. This young man who played second fiddle to Flagg in college quickly rose to prominence after entering the NBA.

In the first 15 games, he averaged 18.3 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3 assists and 0.8 steals per game. At the same time, he averaged 3.3 three-pointers per game with a 40% shooting rate and a free throw shooting rate of 89%.

More importantly, Knuupel still has a clear upward trend. Since November 2, Knuupel, who has gone through the running-in and adaptation stage at the beginning of the season, has averaged 22.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1 steal per game.

In the past two games, Knupel has further improved his dominance in the game, averaging 26 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game, averaging 4.5 three-pointers per game, and his three field goal percentages reached the "180 Club" level of 56/41/100%.

With this performance, Knuupel topped the list of the latest rookie rankings officially announced by the NBA, overtaking former teammate Flagg and Grizzlies No. 11 pick Coward.

Whether it is in terms of data production or personal efficiency, as long as Knupel can continue his current performance, he will most likely book the Rookie of the Year award.

The Hornets have found treasures in a row

In addition to No. 4 pick Knupper, the Hornets' No. 34 pick Kalkbrenner also made it into the top five of the latest best rookies, ranking fourth behind No. 1 pick Flagg, and even surpassed the top pick VJ Edgecombe who was in hot form at the beginning of the season.

Unlike his teammate Knuupel who was selected for his exaggerated three-point shooting performance, Kalkbrenner, as a typical blue-collar center, relies on his solid defense and terrifying finishing efficiency.

So far since the start of the season, Kalkbrenner has averaged 9.9 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game, with an astonishing 81% shooting percentage. In this game, he made 4-of-5 and scored 10 points and 9 rebounds.

There is not much time left for three goals.

If you include Sean James, who performed equally well, the Hornets acquired three starting-level players in the 2025 draft, and two of them entered the top five of the best rookies. No. 4 pick Knupper has great momentum to grow into the new queen bee.

And 2026 is recognized as a big year for the draft. The Hornets are bound to welcome a group of young talented stars again, which leaves the old Queen Bee with little time and opportunity to prove her worth with three goals.

The three goals in this game continued his consistent wasteful shooting, inefficiency, and high turnover style. He scored 18+7+9, which seemed good. In fact, he made 5 of 21 shots, 2 of 11 three-pointers, and made 6 turnovers. This is also the epitome of his start of the season and even his career. He scored 22+7+9 in three games this season, but the overall shooting rate was only 39%, the three-point shooting rate was as low as 29.5%, and he averaged close to 4 turnovers per game.