Kon Knueppel and LaMelo Ball were lighting it up together, quickly establishing themselves as one of the most dangerous duos in the league. It lasted just one season, however, before the Charlotte Hornets moved on from the veteran. Kon recently admitted he was caught off guard by the decision, but took the opportunity to praise his former teammate for bringing “joy and energy” to the locker room.

“He’s loud,” Knueppel described LaMelo Ball’s personality inside the locker room. “But he also comes in every day, and he says hello to everybody. And I mean like: trainer, strength coach, assistant coach — whoever’s cooking the food in the meal room. So it’s cool to have people like that around (as a rookie).

“He’s great. And so definitely, definitely tough and like one of the guys that, you know, embraced me as a rookie, which is, this is all I know is playing with him and being around him. So it’s just a different day-to-day walking in the room, but he’s awesome. We wish him all the success in the world. We’ll stay in contact. Like he’s, he’s a good, good dude. Definitely tough.”

LaMelo Ball’s leadership traits were previously highlighted by the Hornets’ head coach. Charles Lee called Ball the team’s emotional leader.

“I think that he’s really maximizing everyone around him. He’s making them better. … And then he just does what Melo does: He’s a shot-maker.”

Even before the duo surged the Hornets to a 44-win campaign, Ball was speaking positively of his teammate. Before last year’s draft, general manager Jeff Peterson asked Ball for his input. While Cooper Flagg was the consensus top pick, LaMelo Ball had his eyes on Kon Knueppel and urged the GM to draft the Duke star.

It was Knueppel’s basketball IQ that Ball had highlighted, so the Hornets had their eyes even before the draft lottery.

“He’s spot on with those traits,” Peterson told ESPN of that break-of-dawn draft breakdown. “He was very detailed in his evaluation of why he liked him. That was even more impressive that he was able to kind of highlight him because there were some other guys that he didn’t highlight.”

That’s why both players had a positive impact on each other and the team. The Hornets wanted LaMelo Ball to take a leap as a leader before the season began. Judging by Kon Knueppel’s comments, Ball did exactly that. And it seems he has taken those traits to Minnesota.

Anthony Edwards confirmed that he and Ball have been spending extended time together to build that chemistry. Another report from Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic revealed that Ant and Ball have made plans with their teammates to fly out to France to work out with Rudy Gobert.