After starting at the bottom of a crowded recruiting class and working his way up to a top-five draft pick, Kon Knueppel demonstrated why recruits should pick Duke.
The Charlotte Hornets selected former Duke basketball rookie standout Kon Knueppel with the fourth overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, joining Khaman Maluach and Cooper Flagg as the three rookie Blue Devils selected in the top ten. Knueppel was one of the college basketball draft’s biggest stock movers the previous season, and by demonstrating how much prospects can raise their stock with Jon Scheyer, he may have just ignited Duke’s next recruiting wave.
In this summer’s NBA Draft, Flagg and Maluach were considered two surefire lottery picks, but Knueppel wasn’t receiving much attention as a player who may change the course of the club. According to the 247Sports Composite Rankings, the Wisconsin native was ranked as the fifth small forward and 18th overall in the class of 2025. In the Duke recruiting class alone, Knueppel was ranked fourth among commits, behind Isaiah Evans (ranked 13th overall), Flagg (ranked 1st overall), and Maluach (ranked 4th overall). According to the high school recruiting rankings, Knueppel was the least desirable of the five-star recruits.
But throughout the summer, Knueppel rapidly demonstrated his versatility and began making a lot of noise with his play. Soon after the season began, it became clear that the 6’7 wing was a gifted pro potential. Knueppel was a vital member of a squad that won an ACC Tournament Championship and advanced to the Final Four last season, and he was perhaps the second-most impactful rookie for the Blue Devils after Flagg.
His 2025 draft stock skyrocketed when the shooter demonstrated his ability to lead a strong squad in the ACC Tournament. Knueppel took over as the Blue Devils’ offensive catalyst after Flagg suffered an injury in Duke’s opening game against Georgia Tech, forcing the superstar to miss the rest of the conference tournament. He led the team to a conference tournament title and won the ACC Tournament MVP award.
In his final season in Durham, Knueppel averaged 14.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game while shooting 40.6% from three-point range and 47.9% from the field. In his three seasons as Duke’s head coach, Scheyer has secured the nation’s top overall recruiting class in two of those years, and he hopes to keep up his success. Knueppel may have solidified the reason recruits should pick Duke after demonstrating that it is feasible to seem near the bottom of a crowded recruiting class and perform your way into top-five selection status.
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