With a 3-7 record, the Charlotte Hornets are off to a horrible start to their 2025-26 season.
Nevertheless, they still have something positive to look at from one of their promising young players.
Ryan Kalkbrenner has been simply automatic from the field, and the accuracy he shows on a nightly basis has allowed him to easily enter the league record books.
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Kalkbrenner’s 80.8 percent shooting now stands as the highest ever for any player with at least 50 attempts over his first 10 NBA games, in which the Charlotte Hornets rookie made 42 of his initial 52 field goal shots.
According to The Athletic's Devon Henderson, Kalkbrenner just surpassed the record established by Yao Ming in 2002 after the former star big man drained 72 percent (36-of-50) to start his rookie campaign for the Houston Rockets.
“It’s just a credit to my teammates who let me get easy looks,” Kalkbrenner recently said about his highly consistent scoring production. “I mean, it’s not my role to take tough shots, so of course I’m at a decent percentage, but my teammates do a really good job of finding me on dump-offs when I’m wide open and whatnot.
“So, I’m just glad I’m able to finish some of them.”
Chosen by the Hornets with the 34th pick of the NBA Draft, Kalkbrenner has been one of the lone bright spots for the team thus far this season. The 23-year-old is currently averaging 9.2 points, 6.6 boards, and 2.3 blocks, and he has started in all of his 10 games while playing 26.6 minutes per game.
With how well he's been playing lately, Charlotte fans can only be optimistic about the growth and potential of Kalkbrenner moving forward.
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