Through a week of basketball, the Charlotte Hornets boast a 2-2 record with the league’s 12th-best net rating (plus-3.8) and its fifth-best offense. If there’s a sole reason for their success, that would be LaMelo Ball’s superstar play, posting career-highs across the board — 26.3 points, 9.5 assists and 8.3 rebounds on 60.3 percent true shooting.
Beyond Ball’s brilliance, the second driving force behind Charlotte’s promising start is its 2025 rookie class, which is delivering in a big way. The Hornets drafted four top-35 rookies this summer, adding Kon Knueppel (fourth), Liam McNeeley (29th), Sion James (33rd) and Ryan Kalkbrenner (34th) to an already young roster.
After the Draft, I wrote about Charlotte as one of the most intriguing classes. Drafting four players certainly helps but the Hornets prioritized feel, productivity and winning impact more than any class in recent history. In a modern NBA where feel, skill and processing are more critical than ever, this class brings Charlotte closer to the status quo. That was the promise, at least.
To this point, Charlotte’s bet is bearing fruit, especially on offense. The Hornets rank seventh in assist rate (66.9 percent) and 13th in turnover rate (15.3 percent), compared to 16th in assist rate (63.5 percent) and 27th in turnover rate (15.8 percent) last season. Nine percent more of their shots come at the rim than in 2024-25.
Charlotte’s offensive jump would be impressive in a vacuum, let alone with two rookies in the starting lineup and another playing 20 minutes off the bench. There’s no better encapsulation of the kind of players the Hornets sought out than James, who’s looked like a 10-year veteran playing a very similar role to his final collegiate season at Duke.
For years, the Hornets surrounded Ball (and Brandon Miller) with athletic, developmental players without immediate pathways to NBA contribution. James is the opposite, fitting into multiple roles on both ends. His strong connective passing quickly translated, especially as a screener for Ball.
Despite Charlotte’s improved team passing, Ball’s assist rate is nearly identical to the last two seasons. That speaks to sharp connectors like James, who turn created advantages into easy shots at the basket and from beyond the arc.
Second-year head coach Charles Lee has featured guards and wings as screeners from the beginning of his first season. Now, with a stable of heady, versatile perimeter players, he’s leaning into these actions as often as ever, taking advantage of James’s, Knueppel’s and Kalkbrenner’s short-roll and extra passing.
Through four games, the Hornets have increased their roll man play type frequency (6.7 percent -> 7.1 percent) and possessions per game (7.5 ->8.5). Ball is a pick-and-roll passing sage who constantly hunts layup passes, which boosts those numbers, but those numbers highlight Lee’s commitment to manufacturing space for his players to work in.
The towering, 7-foot-1 Kalkbrenner is a strong traditional roller but Charlotte’s waves of ghost and guard screens result in a more egalitarian screen game. At this point in the season, 16 players have logged at least 10 roll man possessions. Despite ranking fifth in roll scoring volume, the Hornets are the only team among the five highest volume offenses without at least one of those 16 players.
Take this play against the Washington Wizards for example, which begins with James screening for Knueppel. Knueppel zips the ball to Collin Sexton and immediately ghosts for him, creating a slight advantage for him to knife into:
Hornets screens pic.twitter.com/4bGC08focU
— bjpfclips (@bjpfclips) October 29, 2025
Knueppel, James and Kalkbrenner provide different threats as a roller for Ball, Miller or Sexton. Knueppel is a high-volume, quick-trigger shooter; James is a bruising, decisive wing; Kalkbrenner sports the size and touch Charlotte so desperately needs. But calling Knueppel, the class’s crown jewel, purely a connector far undersells him.
He’s capable and comfortable moonlighting as an off-ball shooter, screening for Ball, spacing the floor and attacking off of the catch. Knueppel has scored 16 points per game on unsustainable efficiency so far (69.9 percent true shooting) and still hasn’t tapped into much of his on-ball skill.
I viewed Knueppel as one of, if not the best, playmakers in the entire class for his blend of processing speed, passing vision and shooting gravity. He’s an even stronger passer than his seven potential assists per 100 possessions (78th percentile) suggest. In limited creation chances, he’s showcased his pick-and-roll vision and passing on the move, key to his and his team’s offensive ceiling.
kon knueppel hasn’t had too many passing chances yet but we’ve seen his pnr and on-move passing pop in the few playmaking moments
he was a top 3 passing prospect in the class with so much more to unlock pic.twitter.com/LIj8poPCrU
— ben pfeifer (@bjpf_) October 29, 2025
Even the best version of rookie Knueppel, alongside the other Charlotte rookies, likely can’t save its 19th-ranked defense. The Hornets, however, are a potential offensive force with an ascending on-ball superstar buoyed by capable offensive pieces. Through four NBA games, the rookie class has been paramount to that success.
A Hornets team built around Ball and Miller will always slant toward high-powered offense, especially with Knueppel in the fold. Down the line, Knueppel’s development into a third offensive star could vault the Hornets closer to true playoff contention. But for now, he, alongside James, Kalkbrenner and McNeeley, is helping Charlotte today.
In a weak Eastern Conference, the Hornets have a clear path to their first playoff berth in 10 seasons. Rookies don’t often contribute to playoff teams like the ones in Charlotte have but this class may be an exception. If the Hornets ride Ball and his elite offense to a top-six seed (or escape the Play-In), their 2025 Draft class and the glue it provided will be plenty to thank.
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