Duke's Kon Knueppel Reportedly Seen as Top-5 NBA Draft Pick amid Hornets, Jazz Rumors

Cooper Flagg might not be the only former Duke player to become a top five pick in the 2025 NBA draft.

Jonathan Givony reported when projecting the No. 4 pick of ESPN's latest mock that former Blue Devils star Kon Knueppel "has some real fans among NBA teams in this portion of the draft."

Givony reported that the Charlotte Hornets (No. 4 pick) and Utah Jazz (No. 5 pick) both "appear to have interest" in Knueppel, and that his floor is "seemingly no lower" than the Brooklyn Nets at No. 8.

According to Givony, Knueppel is also "the type of prospect a playoff-caliber team could also target in a trade, as he has a plug-and-play skill set and looks likely to bring value throughout his cost-controlled rookie-scale contract."

Knueppel was projected to go to the Houston Rockets with the No. 10 pick in Jonathan Wasserman's latest mock draft for Bleacher Report.

He averaged 14.4 points on 47.9 percent shooting from the field and 40.6 shooting from deep through 39 starts of his lone college season.

Knueppel shot 43.3 percent on catch-and-shoot three-point attempts (42.9 percent when guarded, 42.6 percent when unguarded.) Those made up about 85 percent of his total tries from deep, per NBA.com's Eric Spyropoulos.

Givony wrote that advocates who see Knueppel as a high lottery pick tend to highlight "his elite movement and spot-up shooting (emphasis on his ability to shoot off movement as opposed to his actual movement), defensive smarts and playmaking, as well as an analytics-friendly profile that shines through in team draft models."

Givony went on to write that Knueppel would be a fit with Hornets players like LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller.

Ball and Miller combined to make more than half of all the Hornets' three-point attempts last season, so adding a shooter like Knueppel could potentially take some pressure off Charlotte's stars next season.

The Jazz meanwhile ranked sixth in the NBA in total three-point attempts last season, but ranked 22nd in three-point percentage. Making more of those shots next season could potentially help Utah bounce back from last season's low-scoring campaign.

If either team uses a top-five pick to add Knueppel, they'll be betting that the three-point shooting and playmaking skills he displayed at Duke will translate quickly to the NBA.