The Brooklyn Nets have the eighth overall pick in the upcoming 2025 NBA Draft, and before June 25, they will have to think about who they will be taking with that pick. Brooklyn won’t be able to select Duke’s Cooper Flagg or Rutgers’ Dylan Harper, but there is another forward from Duke that the Nets should feel better about after some recent date was released.
The NBA added information to its website concerning Duke forward Kon Knueppel and how he tested in some key athletic drills like the shuttle run and the vertical leap and Knueppel opened some eyes with his numbers. For those who had the chance to delve into Knueppel’s numbers and compare them with some of the more athletic prospects in the class, they came away with the notion that Knueppel was underrated.
For example, Knueppel tested better in the shuttle run than Baylor guard VJ Edgecombe while having a higher max vertical jump than Flagg and Rutgers forward Ace Bailey. While athletic testing and in-game athleticism are usually too different things, Knueppel’s profile may improve in the eyes of draft pundits because he’s more athletic than originally described.
“Regardless, every team figures to have some level of interest in Kon Knueppel’s shotmaking, efficient scoring and easy fit,” Jonathan Wasserman wrote about Knueppel in his latest mock draft for Bleacher Report. “Viewed as a safe pick with a valued, bankable skill in shooting, he also flashed enough driving ability and ball-screen playmaking for teams to see a more versatile, well-rounded offensive player.”
Knueppel, 19, is coming off a 2024-25 season in which he averaged 14.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.0 steals per game while shooting 47.9% from the field and 40.6% from three-point land in 39 games. Knueppel may not have been able to show everything he could do while sharing the floor with Flagg and center Khaman Maluach, but he’s making a better impression on pundits as time goes on.
