A few days before Charlotte Hornets rookie Kon Knueppel returned to his hometown of Milwaukee to play an NBA game this month, his mother sent him a text.

She had noticed the Hornets would be in town on a day off before the Nov. 14 matchup. Would Kon, a 6-foot-7 guard, have time to stop by home to have dinner with his parents and four younger brothers?

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“Invite whoever you want,” she said.

“He texted back a couple hours later and said, ‘I think I’m gonna invite the whole team,’” Chari Nordgaard Knueppel told NBC News’ Sam Brock.

Neighbors stood in their driveways, snapping pictures, as a busload of Hornets players parked nearby. Unable to get a hard headcount of attendees from their son, Knueppel’s parents, Chari a

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