Standout wing Kon Knueppel sustained a left hamstring injury during offseason on-court work, according to the Hornets, who announced today that forward Grant Williams injured his right hamstring under similar circumstances.

Both players will miss Charlotte’s preseason games and will be reevaluated during the first week of the regular season, per the team. That suggests both players’ status for the regular season opener on October 21 is very much up in the air.

Knueppel, the fourth overall pick in last year’s draft, finished a close second in Rookie of the Year voting in 2025/26 behind his friend and former college teammate Cooper Flagg. The 21-year-old made 81 regular season appearances (31.5 minutes per game) during his debut campaign, averaging 18.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists on .475/.425/.863 shooting splits.

Knueppel won four Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month awards last season and became the first rookie in NBA history to lead the league in total three-pointers made (he converted 273, or 3.4 per game).

Williams, meanwhile, made his 2025/26 debut in January 2026 after missing about 14 months following a major knee injury in which he tore his ACL, meniscus and other connected ligaments.

The 27-year-old, who’s entering his eighth NBA season, averaged 7.0 PPG, 3.9 RPG and 1.6 APG on .426/.388/.815 shooting in 36 games in 2025/26 (19.8 MPG). Williams’ relatively low field goal percentage is fairly misleading — most of his attempts came from three-point range.

Since Knueppel was a full-time starter last season and Williams was a rotation regular, head coach Charles Lee will have to adjust the team’s lineup if either player is forced to miss time when the regular season gets underway next month. Grayson Allen, Royce O’Neale, Sion James, Tidjane Salaun and Liam McNeeley are among the Hornets who could get more playing time in that scenario.