Excellent wing Mog Knueppel injured his left hamstring while working on the court in the offseason, according to reports HornetsWorld Health Organization announced today that forward Grant Williams under similar circumstances, he injured his right hamstring.
Both players will miss Charlotte’s preseason games and will be reevaluated during the first week of the regular season for each team. That suggests both players’ status for the regular season opener on Oct. 21 is in doubt.
Knuppel, the fourth overall pick in last year’s draft, finished second in the 2025/26 Rookie of the Year voting behind his friend and former college teammate Cooper Flagg. The 21-year-old played in 81 regular season games (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.
Last season, Knuppel won four Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month awards and became the first rookie in NBA history to lead the league in three-pointers made (273, or 3.4 per game).
Williams, meanwhile, made his debut for the 2025/26 season in January 2026 after missing around 14 months following a serious knee injury in which he tore his ACL, meniscus and other associated ligaments.
The 27-year-old, entering his eighth NBA season, averaged 7.0 ppg, 3.9 ppg and 1.6 ppg on .426/.388/.815 shooting (19.8 ppg) in 36 games of the 2025/26 season. Williams’ relatively low field goal percentage is misleading, with most of his attempts coming from three-point range.
With Knuppel as the head coach last season and Williams as a regular in the rotation, the head coach Charles Lee will have to adjust the lineup if any player is forced to miss time when the regular season begins next month. Grayson Allen, Royce O’Neill, Zion James, Tijan Salaun and Liam McNeely are among the Hornets who could get more playing time in that scenario.
