Every pickup game has that one guy. Always moves without the ball. Hits open shots. Dives on the concrete. Never complains. You’re halfway through the game and you’re annoyed by how he keeps setting screens, but simultaneously impressed by how he hasn’t missed a single shot or made a single mistake.
Now imagine that guy is 6-foot-5 and grew up in a basketball-obsessed family in Wisconsin, won a state title with his brother and cousin, and then ended up at Duke, where he immediately became a freshman his coach could trust.
That’s Kon Knueppel, the projected 2025 NBA Draft lottery pick who averaged 14.4 points, had twice as many assists (107) as turnovers (53), and shot 43.3% on catch-and-shoot 3s as a Duke freshman. He doesn’t hunt stepbacks or viral dunks. Instead, he’s the type who does the hard stuff without demanding the spotlight.
“I love how Klay played. I would love to play like Klay,” Knueppel said on my podcast at the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago. “He’s so efficient with his movement. He’s shooting the ball the same. Even if his feet aren’t facing the right way, his shoulders are.”
That’s the blueprint. He’s not a Klay Thompson clone, but you can see what he’s chasing: clean mechanics, disciplined movement, and two-way effort.
“The shooting is probably mentioned first,” Knueppel said about his game. “But I try to do a bit of everything. I’m really just gonna fly around the court and give it my all out there, try to get to every loose ball and try to hold my own on defense.”
That mindset showed up in March. He dropped 20 in the Sweet 16, then 21 in the Elite 8. But in the Final Four, despite scoring 16, he was on the floor when Duke coughed up a 14-point, second-half lead and blew its shot at a national title.
The loss hurt. Not because it ruined his draft stock, but because it meant something. He could’ve gone home, taken down a double ButterBurger with cheese from Culver’s, and blasted Morgan Wallen on a loop like any self-respecting Midwestern 19-year-old. Instead, he got back to work.
“There’s lows in life. It’s just a basketball game at the end of the day, but really it’s something you put a lot of time into for a whole year with a bunch of good people,” Knueppel said. “So, how do you respond to that? That’s what I’ve been doing this offseason. Just getting better, using that as fuel because it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.”
After the season ended, he was back in the gym and the film room, finding ways to get better. “I’m working on my conditioning, getting the best shape I can be,” Knueppel said. “And then just off-the-bounce shooting creation. Being able to create a little more separation, I think that’s something I need to get better at. And then creativity around the rim.”
This is the stuff that makes scouts lean in. Everyone knows he can shoot. But he’s a potential top-10 or even top-five pick because of the idea of what he could be if he adds even more layers to his scoring.
Knueppel took only 21 dribble-jumper 3s at Duke and made just three of them. It’s a small sample, of course. And he knows it’s an area for improvement.
“I wasn’t really comfortable shooting those, to be completely honest. I didn’t shoot a ton of them in high school. So I’ve just got to get reps, get better at it, and get more comfortable,” Knueppel said. “The midrange too. We didn’t shoot a lot of midrange at Duke. I want that to be more of a staple in my game because I think that’s a great shot for me.”
Even around the rim, he’s tinkering. Knueppel shot 62% in the half court at the basket, which is an elite number for a player at his position. He was primarily a two-foot finisher, but with more length and athleticism in the NBA, he’s building a more dynamic finishing package.
“Two-feet finishing is really effective in college basketball, utilizing your shot fake, your pivots. But I think it’s more valuable in college than it is in the pros,” Knueppel said. “So that’s why I’ve been working more on one-foot finishing creativity here this offseason. And more of those floater-type shots, midrange shots.”
The safe bet is that Knueppel’s floor is high as a knockdown shooter who makes quick decisions and busts his butt on defense. The upside play is if he keeps evolving off the bounce, because if that comes around you’ve got something scarier.
We saw flashes of that player for the Blue Devils this season when projected top pick Cooper Flagg suffered an injury in the opening round of the ACC tournament against Georgia Tech. Without Flagg to generate offense, Knueppel ran a season-high 14 pick-and-rolls, dissecting the defense with fluid drives to the basket and lobs to another fellow projected lottery pick, center Khaman Maluach.
“I didn’t run ball screens very much in high school, even as the point guard my senior year. So I wasn’t super familiar with all that,” Knueppel said. “But once we started doing it at Duke, Khaman’s a big target so it kind of came natural with him. If you’re on defense and like there’s a guard trying to play the low man, you’re there but you’re not really in position to stop Khaman from catching it.”
Knueppel and Duke assistant coach Emanuel Dildy would watch film almost every day before and after practice, focusing on how to run the pick-and-roll.
“We were on the court working on that stuff every day,” Knueppel said. “If it wasn’t ball screen stuff, it was individual stuff: midrange, shooting, footwork.”
The reps are part of it. But so is his mindset. What really sets Knueppel apart is how comfortable he is not being the guy who always needs the ball. When asked which four all-time players he’d want on the court with him in need of a bucket, down two points with seven seconds left, he picked Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Kevin Durant, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
“I’m gonna sit in the corner,” he laughed. “Maybe a little Jordan drives and a little Steve Kerr.”
That’s not a throwaway line. That’s a self-scout. Knueppel doesn’t walk into a room and think he’s the alpha. He walks in thinking about how to enhance his teammates and do what’s required to win games.
The truth is none of this should be surprising. He was raised in a basketball lab.
Knueppel’s earliest basketball memory came at home, playing full-court mini hoop games in the family playroom.
“Both my parents played, so they loved hoops,” he said. Knueppel’s father, also named Kon, led Wisconsin Lutheran College to three-straight conference titles and was the program’s all-time leading scorer. And to this day, his mother, Chari, is UW-Green Bay’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder.
Kon is the oldest of five brothers — Kager, Kinston, Kash, and Kidman — basically making his childhood the Midwest version of the Ball family, minus the reality show and the shoe line.
“Even my extended family is a bunch of hoopers as well,” Kon said. “It’s pretty sweet. Those holidays, pickup games get competitive.”
As long as he can remember, basketball has been a central part of his life.
“I was raised in a Christian family,” Knueppel said. “I feel like it was my gift to play hoops. So just let my light shine and do the best I can do, because it’s the gift I’ve been given.”
For my full interview with Kon Knueppel, check out his appearance on my podcast, The Kevin O’Connor Show. You can watch on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts.
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