While recency bias tends to show when some folks try to come up with lists of the greatest Duke basketball players of all time, that's not the case for 2024-25 Blue Devil guard and current Charlotte Hornets standout Kon Knueppel.
During a recent sitdown chat with Barstool Sports college hoops insider Marty Mush, the 21-year-old sharpshooter from Wisconsin revealed what he views as the ultimate all-time Duke starting lineup. The most recent Blue Devil in his group is from 20 years ago.
"I'm going to go, full career, Bobby Hurley at the one, JJ Redick at the two, Grant Hill at the three, Shane Battier at the four, and Christian Laettner at the five," Knueppel told Mush.
Three of those players - Hurley, Hill, Laettner - were teammates on back-to-back Duke basketball national championship squads in 1991 and 1992. Battier was also a national champion as a Blue Devil, as he became the Naismith Award recipient and third-time NABC Defensive Player of the Year as a senior en route to helping the powerhouse program cut down the nets in 2001.
Redick, who remains the Blue Devils' all-time leading scorer (2,769 points) and most prolific 3-point shooter (457 makes from downtown), took home the 2005-06 Naismith Award as a senior. He is the only player in Knueppel's five without a national title to his name.
Mush also asked Knueppel to name a sixth man to accompany his all-time Blue Devil starting five. And Knueppel responded with Battier's co-star on the 2001 national championship team in point guard Jay Williams.
Williams spent three seasons in Durham before turning pro. As for the treasures in Kneuppel's all-time starting five, each played four seasons under now-retired Hall of Famer and five-time national champion Mike Krzyzewski.
After averaging 14.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.0 steals for a Blue Devil squad that finished 35-4 overall and reached the Final Four in Jon Scheyer's third season at the helm in Durham, Kon Knueppel came off the board No. 4 overall to the Charlotte Hornets at the 2025 NBA Draft.
Last season, he finished runner-up to former Duke basketball teammate Cooper Flagg in the NBA Rookie of the Year race. Knueppel averaged an impressive 18.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game while shooting 42.5 percent beyond the arc and setting an NBA rookie record with his 273 makes from three, helping to lead the 2025-26 Hornets (44-38) to the franchise's most wins in a season since 2015-16.
Back in late June, Wisconsin Lutheran High School power forward Kager Knueppel, the second of five brothers in the hoops-centric family , became the first 2027 prospect to pledge allegiance to the Duke basketball program.
The five-star currently checks in at No. 16 overall on the 247Sports 2027 Composite , up 36 spots since he announced his commitment to the Blue Devils. At least for now, he remains Duke's only prize in the 2027 cycle .
This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/duke as Kon Knueppel Names All-Time Duke Basketball Starting Five .
