Kon Knueppel is averaging 19.4 points per game this season [Getty Images]
Charlotte Hornets rookie Kon Knueppel became the fastest player to score 100 three-pointers in the NBA during a 139-132 defeat at the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The 20-year-old, the fourth pick at the 2025 draft, reached the landmark in only 29 games when he scored in the first quarter at Rocket Arena.
Utah Jazz's Lauri Markkanen held the previous record of 41 games, while playing for the Chicago Bulls in 2017-18.
Knueppel scored five of the nine three-pointers he attempted against the Cavaliers to finish with 20 points, while LaMelo Ball contributed 23 and Brandon Miller 20 for the Hornets.
But Donovan Mitchell racked up 30 points, DeAndre Hunter 27 and Darius Garland 27 with 10 assists for the Cavaliers.
The Cavaliers are seventh in the Eastern Conference and the Hornets 12th.
Kobe Bryant’s Nike partnership produced some of the most iconic signature shoes of all time, but nothing compares to the heat he brought to Staples Center on Dec. 25, 2010. The Los Angeles Lakers legend stepped onto the floor and introduced bright green shoes that are seen to this day.
The Lakers will be back on the Christmas stage this year when they face the Houston Rockets, and Bryant’s kicks are sure to be seen across the five-game NBA slate on Thursday. What exactly are the green shoes, and how are they attainable?
Here’s a look back at the quintessential Christmas kicks:
Nike Kobe 6 Grinch origin
Originally dubbed “Green Mamba,” both the name and design played off Bryant’s nickname, as the shoe featured two-toned green scales.
The red logo on the tongue gave the shoe a Christmas look. That holiday combo, along with the particular shade of green, led people to nickname the shoe after the Grinch.
Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers posts up against Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat at Staples Center on December 25, 2010, in Los Angeles. (Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images)
When did Kobe Bryant first wear Grinch sneakers?
Bryant sported the Grinch kicks for the first time on a fitting occasion.
The defending NBA champion Lakers welcomed the newly formed Miami Heat Big 3 of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to Staples Center for a Christmas Day showdown in 2010. Between the Lakers wearing their white uniforms, the Heat going with road red and the green sneakers worn by Bryant and other Lakers, the colors on the court matched the holiday spirit.
While the game is remembered for the shoe’s debut, it was an underwhelming afternoon for Bryant and the Lakers. He was held to 17 points as the Heat picked up a 96-80 win.
The Heat weren’t the only ones to leave Staples Center happy. Fans who had courtside seats for the game received a gift bag that included the now-iconic shoes.
How much did Kobe 6 Grinch sneakers cost?
The kicks were sold for an initial price of $130 and hit retail the same day as the game.
When did Nike relaunch Kobe 6 Grinch?
Nike relaunched the Kobe 6 Protro Grinch on Dec. 24, 2020, at $180.
The Grinch wasn’t the only Kobe 6 colorway to get a re-release. The Kobe 6 All-Star got a Protro re-launch in March 2021 at $190, the Kobe 6 White Del Sol got a Protro re-launch in June 2021 at $180 and the Kobe 6 Protro Reverse — which inverted the color scheme of the original Grinch shoes — released in December 2023 at $190.
In 2024, Nike released Kobe Grinch football cleats and a mismatched set — one green and one red — at $230.
How much do Kobe 6 Grinch sneakers cost now?
The kicks have more than tripled in price over the last five years, with a pair fetching an asking price between $600-$1,500 on most retail sites.
Does Nike still sell Kobe sneakers?
Kobe’s wife, Vanessa Bryant, announced a new partnership with Nike in March 2022 after she previously called out the company for a tribute shoe for Kobe and their daughter, Gigi, that went online without her permission. As part of the deal, all proceeds for Gigi’s shoes will be donated to the Mamba and Mambacita Sports Foundation.
The week of Christmas is typically a slow time on the college basketball, with a handful of games before and after the holiday. This week is no different with nine ranked teams playing, most against lower-tier programs. The marquee game over the next two weeks will come on Jan. 2, when No. 2 Michigan hosts No. 24 Southern California.
The Wildcats scored 50 points in the paint, grabbed 20 more rebounds and converted 36 points off Bethune-Cookman's 22 turnovers. Arizona point guard Jaden Bradley had 11 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals. Arizona is one of six remaining undefeated teams in Division I and has seven straight wins by at least 20 points, its longest streak since eight straight 20-point wins in 1929, according to Sportradar.
AJ Dybantsa had 33 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists to lead No. 10 BYU to a 109-81 victory over Eastern Washington on Monday night. Dybantsa became the first player with a triple-double for the Cougars since Kyle Collinsworth against UAB on March 16, 2016. Richie Saunders had 22 points to help BYU (12-1) go unbeaten through a four-game homestand.
Brayden Burries scored 20 points, Ivan Kharchenkov added 14 and top-ranked Arizona overcame a sluggish start to rout Bethune-Cookman 107-71 on Monday night. The Wildcats (12-0) remained No. in this week's AP Top 25 after shutting down San Diego State on Saturday, but labored early on offense in the final game before their holiday break.
Freshman guard Keaton Wagler made a career-best five 3-pointers and scored 22 points to lead No. 20 Illinois to a 91-48 rout of Missouri on Monday night. Sebastian Mack had 17 points off the bench to lead Missouri (10-3) as coach Dennis Gates left his reserves in for much of the second half with the game out of hand. After building a 16-point lead at halftime, the Illini poured it on with two 3-pointers from Ivisic in the opening minutes of the second half and finally pulled their starters with 2 1/2 minutes left.
Caleb Wilson had 21 points and 12 rebounds, and No. North Carolina had its highest point total of the season in a 99-51 victory over East Carolina on Monday night. Wilson also had four blocks and three steals, while Henri Veesaar finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
Tre White and Flory Bidunga each had 18 points and eight rebounds as No. 17 Kansas used balanced scoring to beat Davidson 90-61 on Monday night. Bryson Tiller added 11 points and Jamari McDowell scored 10. Melvin Council Jr. had 10 points, nine assists and seven rebounds.
The NBA and FIBA announced Monday that they "will in January move forward in their joint exploration of a new professional, pan-European men's basketball league by engaging prospective teams and ownership groups in the process to join the league." While for the last year there have been informal meetings with potential teams — and J.P. Morgan has looked into the financials of potential investors — things are now about to become much more formal.
The 12-16 team league is projected to have several "permanent" members — Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich have been mentioned as teams the league met with — but also will provide "a merit-based pathway" to qualify each year, either through FIBA's Basketball Champions League or another European league tournament. The new NBA league will need some big-name existing clubs to get the fan buy-in it seeks across Europe.
"[The NBA has met with] a combination of existing clubs, organizations that own clubs in other leagues, city officials, many of whom I've met with, as well, governmental leaders of states in terms of their interest," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in Las Vegas last week before the NBA Cup final. "I'd say we've heard a lot of very positive interest in our moving forward.
"I think we at the league office are still working on the economic model, want to make sure it makes sense. As I've said before, many of the cities we'd like to be in don't have a sufficient arena infrastructure, so that's something that we would need to work on in terms of private investment, maybe work with those municipalities, as well."
What the NBA will want is a formal salary structure (likely with a hard cap) to build out this league, and the NBA is banking on its business model — and ability to get some new arenas constructed — to turn this into a profitable venture for both the teams involved and the league.
With its announcement, the league also said both it and FIBA "plan to dedicate financial support and resources to the continued development of Europe's basketball ecosystem, including domestic leagues, club team academies, and the NBA and FIBA's existing programs to develop aspiring players, coaches and referees at all levels of the game."
The goal has been a fall 2027 launch for the new NBA Europe league.
After dropping a career-high 40 points in the G League on Monday afternoon, the Nets are recalling rookie Ben Saraf.
Saraf, one of Brooklyn's five first-round picks in the 2025 NBA Draft (No. 26 overall), was dominant for the Long Island Nets in their 116-97 win over the Oklahoma City Blue in the NBA G League Winter Showcase.
The point guard shot 54 percent in the scoring outburst, going 14-for-26 from the field, including 6-for-10 from three. He also added in six rebounds, four assists, and a steal.
Saraf does have a right ankle sprain, but is being listed as probable for Tuesday's game against the Philadelphia 76ers.
The rookie has played in just 12 NBA games so far with five starts. In those limited minutes (16.9 per game), he's averaging 5.4 points, 2.8 assists, and 1.6 rebounds per game.
SAN FRANCISCO – From the roster through the coaching staff and all the way up to the front office, the Warriors have longed for the kind of tag-team performance delivered Monday night by Jimmy Butler III and Stephen Curry.
Unfortunately for the Warriors, Butler, Curry and their dual glories had to share the spotlight with an inglorious moment in the third quarter between Draymond Green and coach Steve Kerr.
“We got into it, obviously,” Kerr said. “And I took the timeout because I thought we lost our focus there a little bit. And we had it out a little bit. And he made his decision to go back to the locker room to cool off.”
Steve Kerr describes his heated interaction with Draymond Green in the third quarter
It was during the timeout with 8:31 left in the third quarter that matters reached a boiling point. Kerr was facing the bench, within a couple feet of Draymond, and it became clear their blowup was escalating. Green left his seat on the bench and headed into the locker room, with player development coach Anthony Vereen on his heels.
“Tempers spilled over,” Green said. “And I thought it was best that get out of there. I didn’t think it was a situation where it was going to get better. So, it was best to remove myself.”
Though this was not the first or second or third time that Kerr and Green have clashed in their 11-plus years together, this was the most public display. Once Draymond went to the locker room, Kerr basically considered him done for the night.
“Well, he left, he went back to the locker room,” Kerr said. “We moved forward, and the guys played great. They helped win with a really good second half, and I’m very proud of the team.”
Both Kerr and Green insisted that the raw emotions will not linger, and maybe they won’t. They have, again, a history of tempestuous moments and have continued to be supportive of each other.
“We’ve been at this now for a long time,” Green said. “So, sometimes when you’re with people for a long time, there’s a level of comfort, and s–t happens. We move forward.”
"Tempers spilled over, and I just thought it was best that I get out of there."
Draymond Green shares his side of his tense exchange with Steve Kerr on the Warriors' bench pic.twitter.com/4wm9OucW0z
What can’t be ignored is that this is the second consecutive game Golden State has flourished without Green. After he was ejected in the second quarter Saturday against Phoenix, the Warriors flipped a 10-point deficit into a six-point win. This time, the team’s response was even more emphatic, as they outscored the Magic 54-26 after Green left the game.
“There’s a sense of urgency when he’s not out there because our margin for error goes down without his presence,” Curry said. “So that’s the frustrating part about this whole thing. Being 15-15, we feel like we’re playing better than your record shows because we can respond. We were resilient.
“You know, being able to respond like we have these last two games doesn’t mean anything long term. I don’t know, but it makes it fun, because you have adversity, whether it’s from the other team or something self-inflicted and you’re able to respond the way that you need to, to get a win because it matters. And nobody’s letting go of the rope.
It was Curry and Butler who had the tightest grip on this night. As Curry struggled through an abysmal first half, Butler’s obscene efficiency kept the Warriors afloat against the lengthy and pesky Orlando Magic. He took six shots and turned them into 16 points.
When Curry – who scored eight points on 13 field-goal attempts in the first – came out of halftime with a 15-point third quarter on 6-of-6 shooting, including 3-of-3 from deep. Butler subtly slid over so the franchise player could open the door to a 120-97 victory that put the Warriors back at .500 (15-15).
It was as if Butler and Curry had swapped capes at halftime.
“Two of the best players in the league when we got Jimmy last year, that’s what it looked like,” Kerr said. “Two stars, carrying the team. Draymond at center, holding down the defense. We go 23-8 and win a round in the playoffs. We’ve seen this. It’s just that here in the early part of this season, we haven’t been able to capture that same momentum.
“But I’ve been saying this for weeks. I’m very confident in this group, and I think we’re going to we’re going to find it. And I think you saw, you know what, what that can look like tonight.”
There is a hitch in the comparison to last season’s late surge. Draymond played fewer than 18 minutes, and the Warriors did their best work without him. On a night when Kerr and Green were snapping at each other, Butler and Curry held it down. It worked splendidly in this game. If only that would assure that the next few days and games will be free of drama.
Lakers coach JJ Redick and his staff are studying ways to reduce the contact guard Luka Doncic takes during games. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
As Lakers coach JJ Redick talked after practice Monday about the long list of players who would be listed as day-to-day for Tuesday night’s game at Phoenix, he at least knew that center Deandre Ayton will be back after missing two games because of left elbow soreness.
Redick said Luka Doncic (left leg contusion), Austin Reaves (mild left calf strain) and Rui Hachimura (right groin soreness) were day-to-day. Gabe Vincent (lower back tightness), however, is expected to be out longer.
A few hours later, Reaves was upgraded to questionable, while Doncic, Hachimura and Vincent were officially ruled out for the Suns game.
Redick said Doncic was injured when he was kneed by Clippers guard Bagdan Bogdanovic during Saturday night’s loss at Intuit Dome. Redick said the Lakers have noticed that Doncic, who leads the NBA in scoring (34.1) and is fourth in assists (8.8), gets hit in his lower leg a lot during games.
“It could just be the de-ce. I don’t know,” Redick said, alluding to the way Doncic decelerates with the ball in his hands. “The way he uses his body? I don’t know. … We’re talking about looking into ways to potentially protect against these, so sort of like, collisions.”
Reaves, who's 10th in scoring at 27.8 points, missed the last three games. He was on the court shooting after practice Monday, and Redick was asked what it will take for his guard to get back in games.
"Given the nature of that area, I think it’s when he feels 100% confident and he doesn’t feel it hurting,” Redick said. “It’s fun, guys. It’s fun. It’s fun. It’s a fun day to talk about injuries.”
Redick said there was no real update on Hachimura’s injury, but that Ayton was a full participant in practice.
Ayton, who is second in the NBA in field-goal percentage (71%) and is averaging 15.3 points and 9.0 rebounds, was asked if he was playing against his former team the Suns. He averaged 16 points and 11 rebounds in the first two matchups.
"Most definitely,” he said. “I'm straight. Most definitely."
SAN FRANCISCO – It was one month ago when the Magic beat the Warriors by eight points without Paolo Banchero. The former No. 1 pick was on the court Monday night for Orlando, but this time it was down Franz Wagner, Jalen Suggs and Tristan da Silva, all three of whom started when these two teams last battled each other.
The Warriors took advantage of an undermanned Magic team five weeks later, closing the first half on a 5-0 run and cruising in the second half for a 120-97 win at Chase Center. After leading by one point at halftime, the Warriors outscored the Magic 62-40 in the second half.
Steph Curry, after a slow start, scored a game-high 26 points and dished a team-high six assists. Jimmy Butler only needed nine shot attempts to reach 21 points, and Moses Moody (20 points) gave the Warriors three different 20-point scorers.
This wasn’t a win from one, two or even three Warriors. A plethora had their hands in the victory as the bench outscored Orlando’s reserves 36-21.
Here are three takeaways from a Warriors win that got them back to .500 with a 15-15 record.
Steph Finds His Second-Half Groove
Any sign of discomfort for Curry is an automatic reason for all of Dub Nation to hold its breath, which is what happened early in the second quarter. Curry twisted his left ankle near the Warriors’ bench, began limping and bent over to talk with the coaches as Gary Payton II was whistled for an offensive foul.
But Curry stayed in the game and drained a deep 2-pointer that originally was listed as a 3-pointer on the Warriors’ next offensive possession. He only scored eight points in the first half on 3-of-13 shooting and missed all six of his 3-point attempts as the Warriors struggled from deep as a team.
At the 8:20 mark of the third quarter, Curry finally got a 3-pointer to land on his seventh try. And then he made a 30-foot stepback, followed by a 15-foot stepback mid-range jumper. He didn’t make consecutive shots once in the first two quarters, and then was a perfect 6-of-6 shooting and 3 of 3 from 3-point range in the third quarter.
Curry enjoyed the final seven-plus minutes from the bench. Starting slow and catching fire in the third quarter, 18 of Curry’s 26 points came in the second half, including all four of his threes. He now has scored at least 25 points in nine of his last 12 games.
Different Kind of Aggressive Butler
In Butler’s own words, after Saturday night’s win, the reasoning behind his second straight big scoring game was as simple as can be: He got the ball. Warriors coach Steve Kerr and his players have spoken about the need to get Butler into a rhythm offensively, and their intentions are clear.
Strength on strength, power vs. power. The matchup between Butler and Banchero was one to keep your eyes on, with both muscling their way to the basket. Butler, in the previous two games, averaged 28 points and 19 field goal attempts.
He didn’t need to reach those numbers for the Warriors to get their second straight win. Butler was the Warriors’ leading scorer going into halftime with 16 points on just six shots with only one miss. His aggressiveness also was seen in Butler going 6 of 7 on free throws in the first half.
Butler took just one shot in the third quarter, swishing a one-legged three from the left corner at the end of the shot clock. He took two more in the fourth quarter, bringing him to 21 points on nine shots and seven free throw attempts. An aggressive Butler game can come in a handful of ways.
Respect The Hustle
Like an out-of-control 8-year-old child, Brandin Podziemski sometimes needs a reminder to take a deep breath and relax. There were instances on Monday night where a nudge to do so was needed. But his hustle couldn’t be denied.
Look at how his willingness to dive on the floor led to a chaotic Curry three in the third quarter.
When Podziemski truly is impacting a game, it’s felt, and that was the case against the Magic. His plus/minus met the eye test. Podziemski was a game-high plus-36 in 28 minutes off the bench, doing a bit of everything with 16 points, four rebounds and five assists.
Both Payton and Moody had similar influences on the win. Moody was second to Podziemski as a plus-23 while scoring 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting and making three 3-pointers. Payton threw down multiple dunks and tallied seven points, four rebounds and five assists.
The dynamic duo of Curry and Butler led the Warriors to their second straight win. They couldn’t get it done, though, without the effort of an energetic Podziemski-Payton-Moody trio.
