INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Charlotte’s Kon Knueppel reached yet another milestone in a remarkable rookie season for the No. 4 overall pick from Duke.
The Hornets swingman broke Keegan Murray’s NBA rookie record for 3-pointers, making his 207th Thursday night against the Indiana Pacers. Knueppel connected on five 3s in the first half and then broke the record in the third quarter off an assist from Sion James, his former college teammate.
Knueppel finished with 28 points and shot 8 of 12 beyond the arc as the Hornets throttled the Pacers 133-109. He leads the NBA with 209 3s.
“It’s really just about making the right basketball play,” Knueppel said. “My teammates are setting good screens and setting me up in good spots. The coaches as well. I’m just out there looking to make the right play for my team.”
It took Murray 80 games in 2022-23 to establish the record — and Knueppel just 59 to surpass it. He said he did not realize the magnitude of the shot that set the mark.
“Honestly, I thought I needed seven,” Knueppel said.
Golden State's Stephen Curry holds the single-season NBA record with 402 3s.
Knueppel is shooting 44.2% from 3-point range, making him a contender for NBA Rookie of the Year along with his former college teammate and roommate Cooper Flagg, the No. 1 overall pick of the Dallas Mavericks. He has also helped propel the long-suffering Hornets into playoff contention with 22 games left.
Charlotte has not made the playoffs since the 2015-16 season.
“It’s what elevates our whole culture when you have a guy that’s that good, but that humble, no ego — it becomes contagious throughout your whole organization,” Hornets coach Charles Lee told CGTN Sports Scene after Knueppel eclipsed 200 3s on Tuesday night.
Knueppel has been a perfect fit in second-year coach Lee's offense alongside playmaker LaMelo Ball, using his basketball IQ to find open spots on the floor — a skill he attributes to playing in his father's men's league against taller competition beginning as an eighth grader growing up in Milwaukee.
Knueppel has thrived as a catch-and-shoot player with 93% of his 3s this season coming off assists entering Thursday night, according to Cleaning the Glass.
He has turned heads across the league with his shooting percentage.
Curry, the NBA's career leader in 3s, made 166 on 380 attempts (43.7%) as a rookie in with the Warriors in 80 games in 2009-10. Knueppel has attempted 473 3s this season.
“He can obviously shoot the ball at a high level,” Curry said after a recent game against the Hornets. “You can’t really leave him open at all as he has such a quick release and shoots with confidence. And his playmaking is very underrated. His game just suits the NBA style, whether it’s fast-paced or a slowed-down possession game.”
Knueppel surpassed Donovan Mitchell, who is third on the list of 3s by a rookie, in a loss to the Cavaliers on Feb. 20.
Mitchell joked that he heard about it after the game from Cavs teammate Tyrese Proctor, who played with Knueppel at Duke.
“He's talented,” Mitchell said of Knueppel. “For him to be a rookie and be able to go out there and make it look effortless. ... We know he can shoot the ball, right? But I think him getting to the midrange and play develop in the small pick-and-roll that is something I think is really unique about his game is being able to do that and create advantages for himself.”
Mitchell added, “It's going to be interesting with him and Coop for rookie of the year.”
Reed reported from Charlotte, North Carolina.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
Charlotte Hornets guard Kon Knueppel, left, pulls up to shoot a 3-point basket in front of Indiana Pacers guard Quenton Jackson, right, during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Indianapolis, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)
Charlotte Hornets guard Kon Knueppel (7) looks to shoot around Indiana Pacers center Micah Potter (11) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Indianapolis, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)
Charlotte Hornets guard Kon Knueppel shoots a 3-point shot against the Indiana Pacers during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Indianapolis, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said Thursday that the artificial intelligence company “cannot in good conscience accede” to the Pentagon’s demands to allow unrestricted use of its technology, deepening a public clash with the Trump administration that is threatening to pull its contract and take other drastic steps by Friday.
The maker of the AI chatbot Claude said in a statement that it’s not walking away from negotiations but that new contract language received from the Defense Department “made virtually no progress on preventing Claude’s use for mass surveillance of Americans or in fully autonomous weapons.”
Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s top spokesman, said earlier on social media that the military “has no interest in using AI to conduct mass surveillance of Americans (which is illegal) nor do we want to use AI to develop autonomous weapons that operate without human involvement.”
Anthropic’s policies prevent its models from being used for those purposes. It’s the last of its peers — the Pentagon also has contracts with Google, OpenAI and Elon Musk’s xAI — to not supply its technology to a new U.S. military internal network.
“It is the Department’s prerogative to select contractors most aligned with their vision,” Amodei wrote in a statement. “But given the substantial value that Anthropic’s technology provides to our armed forces, we hope they reconsider.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave Anthropic an ultimatum on Tuesday after meeting with Amodei: Allow the Pentagon to use the company's AI as it sees fit by Friday or risk losing its government contract. Military officials warned that they could go even further and designate the company as a supply chain risk or invoke a Cold War-era law called the Defense Production Act to give the military more sweeping authority to use its products.
Amodei said Thursday that “those latter two threats are inherently contradictory: one labels us a security risk; the other labels Claude as essential to national security.”
In a post before Amodei's announcement, Parnell reiterated that the Pentagon wants to “ use Anthropic’s model for all lawful purposes” but didn’t offer details on what that entailed. He said opening up use of the technology would prevent the company from “jeopardizing critical military operations.”
“We will not let ANY company dictate the terms regarding how we make operational decisions,” he said.
Emil Michael, defense undersecretary for research and engineering, later lashed out at the Anthropic CEO, alleging on X that Amodei “has a God-complex” and “wants nothing more than to try to personally control the US Military and is ok putting our nation’s safety at risk.”
The talks that escalated this week began months ago. Amodei said that if the Pentagon doesn't reconsider its position, Anthropic “will work to enable a smooth transition to another provider.”
Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who is not seeking reelection, said the Pentagon has been handling the matter unprofessionally while Anthropic is “trying to do their best to help us from ourselves.”
“Why in the hell are we having this discussion in public?” Tillis told reporters. “This is not the way you deal with a strategic vendor that has contracts.”
He added, “When a company is resisting a market opportunity for fear of negative consequences, you should listen to them and then behind closed doors figure out what they’re really trying to solve.”
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he was “deeply disturbed” by reports that the Pentagon is “working to bully a leading U.S. company.”
“Unfortunately, this is further indication that the Department of Defense seeks to completely ignore AI governance,” Warner said in a statement. It “further underscores the need for Congress to enact strong, binding AI governance mechanisms for national security contexts.”
While Pentagon officials say they always will follow the law with their use of AI models, the department has taken steps to change the culture among the military legal ranks.
Hegseth told Fox News last February, weeks after becoming defense secretary, that “ultimately, we want lawyers who give sound constitutional advice and don’t exist to attempt to be roadblocks to anything.”
The same month, Hegseth also fired the top lawyers for the Army and the Air Force without explanation. The Navy’s top lawyer had resigned shortly after the election in late 2024.
O'Brien reported from Providence, Rhode Island. Associated Press writer Ben Finley contributed to this report.
FILE - Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stands outside the Pentagon during a welcome ceremony for the Japanese defense minister at the Pentagon in Washington, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf, File)
Pages from the Anthropic website and the company's logos are displayed on a computer screen in New York on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Patrick Sison)
