Free Kon Kneuppel: Could Duke’s 2nd prospect be the best pick for the Sixers at No. 3?

This is for the Kon Kneuppel Truthers.

As Sixers fans who survived the madness of the past decade, I think we can all agree the NBA Draft is far from an exact science.

Trying to predict which teenager is going to become the next All-Star or hell, even a successful role player leads to untended consequences.

No one knows that better than the city of Philadelphia.

From complete busts in Jahlil Okafor, a scziophrenic jump shot in Markelle Fultz or trading Mikal Bridges (star) for Zhaire Smith and his deadly sesame seed allergy on draft night, things haven’t worked out in our favor.

No matter what your favorite NBA blog is claiming with fancy ‘comps’ and expert predictions, the 2025 NBA Draft isn’t any different.

Outside of Cooper Flagg and possibly Dylan Harper, every other prospect in this class has a glaring flaw or signifcant question mark on how their game will transition to the next level.

The Mental Gymnastics for Ace Bailey are exhausting:

As a frequent lurker on the Sixers subreddit, its astounding to me the mental gymnastics the Philly fan base will go to as they slowly convince themselves to take a comically immature 18-year old off-ball guard from perennial college basketball powerhouse; The State University of New Jersey.

As recently as this week 45% of respondents to a poll in R/Sixers wanted to select the aforementioned Ace Bailey, despite some pretty glaring red flags with his game and mental makeup.

Some probably don’t even mind that just this Thursday morning Bailey and his team ghosted his scheduled workout with the Sixers in Camden.

To this date, Bailey hasn’t worked out in person for a single NBA team, making him the only domestic player in this draft class to do so.

76ers ghosted by Ace Bailey ahead of NBA Draft; Morey not ruling him out

Enter the Sixers knight in shining armor: Kon Kneuppel.

The Pride of Milwaukee Wisconsin and arguably the best player on Duke’s Final Four team this past season. I can already see the vast majority of the people reading this rolling their eyes and being an instant ‘NO’ on taking another player from Duke, let alone a white kid, whose NBA comp is every other slow white shooter.

Give Kon Kneuppel’s tape an honest chance and you too will find out that despite a terrible name and even worse haircut, he is a much more complete player than some of the other options for the Sixers at #3.

Kneuppel, 19, shot an elite 47% on spot-up 3’s this past season, while simultaneously handling the role of primary ball handler against top-level competition in packed ACC gyms.

Does Kon Kneuppel have the pure athletic ability or upside of Ace Bailey, Tre Johnson or VJ Edgecombe?

No, but the things Kon Knueppel does well will easily translate to an NBA game dominated by the high pick-and-roll where your ability to stay on the floor is largely decided by your shooting and ability to score at the rim.

His 91% free throw rate perfectly mirrors what we see in his 47.9% field goal % and an elite 40.6% from 3.

I don’t think Kon Kneuppel will be getting to the rim like a slasher in Tyrese Maxey.

But he is also far from an unathletic liability the Sixers will need to hide in the corner. Kneuppel admittedly looks smaller on tape than his 6’7’’ frame but his above average IQ in the half court is immediately apparent and Kon can create his own shot or create space when needed leading to my belief that he could easily run the offense while Maxey is on the bench.

Kon Kneuppel’s biggest weakness is projected to be on the defensive end. Despite his competitiveness and thick bottom half; his footwork and athleticism will likely prevent him from being an above average on-ball defender. It is the primary reason many experts and mock draft’s have Kneuppel sliding to the back half of the lottery.

The Sixers and other teams are correct to get excited by the pure skills and tantalizing ceiling of some of the other lottery prospects including Ace Bailey.

However, the Sixers are in a unique position to be competitive (I truly believe they can win the Eastern Conference with Embiid next year) and selecting Kneuppel, who is elite in a highly desired skillset (3pt shooting) would be far smarter than squinting at a disgruntled ball dominant guard/forward and praying that he is the next Kevin Durant.

The Bailey Bandits or the Kon Knueppel Klan? We know the answer.

I hope people are ready for the Kon Knueppel Klan. i for one, am excited to print the shirts.

— Drew Smith (@drewmsmith) June 19, 2025

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