Two Hamstrings, One Bad Week
Kon Knueppel strained his left hamstring during offseason training. Grant Williams did the same to his right. Both will miss the preseason entirely and get re-evaluated in the first week of the regular season, which puts their availability for the season opener in real doubt.
The two contracts total $98 million combined, and both players were expected to play real minutes for a Charlotte team trying to climb back into playoff contention. Knueppel, entering his second season as a sharpshooter off the perimeter, has made no secret of the target on this roster. “Our goal is to make the playoffs, and we fell short of that,” he said. “Gotta come back with a different fire and just use it as fuel.” Williams brings a different job description, the enforcer role off Charlotte’s bench, and his absence will be felt early against physical opponents.
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A Busy Week Gets Busier
The injury news lands days after Charlotte reshaped its bench anyway, acquiring Buddy Hield and Ryan Nembhard from Atlanta in exchange for Dorian Finney-Smith. That move was meant to add shooting and depth around a young core built for the long term. Now the Hornets have to open the season without two rotation pieces they were counting on, testing that depth before an opponent even gets the chance to.
Charlotte missed the playoffs last season by a narrow margin and spent the summer trying to close that gap. The front office bet on better health and a deeper bench. Both bets get complicated in the same week.
What Comes Next
Knueppel and Williams will sit out the rest of the preseason schedule and be reassessed once the regular season begins. Charlotte still projects as a more competitive team once healthy, but the opener now looks a lot different than it did a week ago, and the front office’s timeline for both players will shape how the first month of the season is read.
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