Brad Stevens isn’t active on social media. His Twitter account has been dormant for three years. His Instagram account has one post.
So when Stevens liked a tweet in August 2022 for the first time, heads turned. The Celtics president of basketball operations didn’t put the spotlight on one of his stars. Instead, it was Luke Kornet. Stevens clicked a heart on a highlight of the young journeyman center turning down a 3-point jump shot opportunity to drive and finish a dunk in a pickup game.
The Celtics had just re-signed Kornet to a two-year deal after picking up the 7-footer as a depth add during their NBA Finals run. The liked tweet got all sorts of lighthearted buzz at Celtics media day in 2022, but the motive behind the move remained a mystery.
Was Stevens trying to raise the profile of the 7-footer among Celtics fans? Perhaps foreshadowing a recalibration of Kornet’s offensive game?
Not exactly.
“I didn’t even do that on purpose,” Stevens revealed to MassLive. “I don’t know how that happened, but I got a text from my son: ‘Did you just like a tweet about Luke?’ And I was like, ‘What?’ And then I saw my phone was blowing up. I said, ‘I have got to get Twitter off my phone.’ My phone must have just hit the wrong button, but I’ll claim it.”
Today, the tweet doesn’t come up anymore and that’s because what Kornet is doing on the floor is drawing more attention. The 7-foot-1 center has evolved from a journeyman to a crucial part of Joe Mazzulla’s rotation heading into the Knicks series. It all happened while swimming against the NBA tide by turning away from what earned him a spot in the league.
Kornet entered the NBA in 2017 poised to follow the overwhelming trend for big men in the past decade — stretching the floor. Most bigs were trying to add the 3-point shot to their game, but Kornet was already thriving with it. The 7-foot-1 center averaged more 3-pointers attempted per 36 minutes than any other center in the NBA during his first two seasons with the New York Knicks.
“My goal coming in was I wanted to be one of the best shooting fives like Channing Frye, Brook Lopez or some of those guys.” Kornet told MassLive.
Eight years later, Kornet finds himself on the most prolific 3-point shooting team in NBA history, yet, Kornet’s perimeter shot is nowhere to be found. He’s taken a total of four 3-pointers (mostly late shot clock heaves) during his past two seasons combined with the Celtics, despite hoisting over 400 attempts before arriving in Boston during the 2020-21 season.
“It’s crazy something like this can happen,” Kristaps Porzingis said.
Kornet tried to explain what it felt like to change course.
“It’s about as ironic and weirdly humiliating for the actual meaning of being made humble I think would probably be appropriate,” Kornet said with a laugh.
What exactly led to the disappearance of the 29-year-old’s 3-point shot that has pitted him against one of the NBA’s most dramatic trends? The adjustment required a change in mindset and approach, and a little faith.
Shooting his way in
Kornet went undrafted after four years at Vanderbilt before latching on with the Knicks on a two-way deal in 2017. A strong rookie campaign split between New York and the G-League led to a 15-man roster spot for the 2018-19 season. Kornet even became a spot starter largely thanks to his 3-point prowess.
He led those Knicks squads in 3s attempted per 36 minutes, shooting 36 percent from 3-point range over his two seasons in New York. Despite his height, a staggering 66 percent of his field goal attempts came from beyond the arc as he pulled opposing bigs out of the paint with his jump shot. The promising production earned him a two-year deal with the Bulls upon hitting free agency in 2019.
The Cinderella story took an ugly turn in Chicago. Kornet’s shooting numbers plummeted. He knocked down just 28.2 percent of his 3s over two seasons before he was traded to Boston in a deadline deal in March 2021. The big man didn’t fare much better (25 percent from 3) during his two months in Boston, which was the end of his 3-point shooting prowess, or so it seemed.
Kornet hit free agency again at a crossroads as he tried to evaluate his game amid the sharp downturn in his most identifiable skill.
Initially, Kornet blamed himself for the shooting decline that led to abandoning the skill that helped earn his place in the NBA.
“I wasn’t shooting well, so then it just became a thing of what actually is the best thing to do for the team,” Kornet explained. “How do I best fit to actually make our team work well?”
Diagnosing The Decline
Further investigation from those who know the big man well revealed the main factors that led to his shooting downturn.
Kornet played most of the 2018-19 season for the Knicks with a damaged nose after Joel Embiid clocked him with an elbow to the face. The untreated injury took a toll on the rest of Kornet’s body as he was trying to establish himself as an elite shooting big.
“My breathing was all messed up, and the inside of my nose got all screwed up,” Kornet revealed. “Went through the rest of the year and just started feeling neck tightness and shoulder tightness and all these kinds of things.”
In addition to the complications with his nose that trickled down toward the rest of his body, Kornet suffered a fracture in his foot. He tried playing through a lot of it, but the ailments added up.
“I eventually needed to get ankle surgery after that too,” Kornet said. “A string of injuries just sort of happened where I lost my motor patterns and stuff. It just felt hard to reach above (while shooting), and by the time I just kept spiraling, I was like,’ I can’t really move how I used to.’”
Kornet had surgeries to address both issues but found himself back in the G-League by the time he got his body right. He took an honest look at himself to figure out his best path back into the NBA.
“When I came to Maine the next year, I think it was becoming a thing where I was trying to get better as a screener role and all stuff, where that kind of became the way that I can best serve the team.”
A Humbling Adjustment
As Kornet hit free agency, Brad Stevens was transitioning to his new role leading Celtics front office after Danny Ainge stepped down. He spent two months coaching Kornet at the end of the 2020-21 season, but one of his moves in his first offseason as GM was inking Kornet to an non-guaranteed contract that ultimately landed him in Maine.
“When he was playing with Westchester,” Stevens said. “I remember our G League coaches talking about him. It was a lot less about the shooting and a lot more about the rim protection. He had the ability to finish above the rim.”
The Celtics encouraged him to embrace that.
Kornet’s 3-point shooting helped him get a spot in the NBA, but now, he needed to adapt to find a way back in. That meant going in a direction he wasn’t comfortable with, at least at first. He was still getting some 3-point shots up in Maine in 2021, but his attempt rate was declining. The accuracy still wasn’t there in a limited sample size while he battled a foot injury (28.7 percent in 11 games). Instead, he leaned into his size as his season progressed.
As the league played through the COVID-19 pandemic during the 2021-22 season, Kornet landed two 10-day contracts for shorthanded teams (Bucks, Cavs) while playing in the G-League, but he ultimately made his way back to Maine. By the trade deadline in February, an active Stevens had opened some bench roster spots with four deals. Kornet and Sam Hauser came aboard as bench depth as Boston completed an unexpected NBA Finals run. Meanwhile, Stevens saw the promise in how Kornet was trying to reshape his game while sitting on the bench.
To secure a spot on a Boston team already loaded with shooting, Kornet embraced a new identity with some encouragement from the organization.
“I probably could have kept jacking 3s,” Kornet said. “I think it’s just helpful to have someone who’s putting pressure on the rim. We’ve got a lot of guys that can shoot and make plays otherwise, so it’s more my decision (not to shoot).”
With that philosophy change, Kornet joined a dwindling list of NBA centers with no shooting range at all. Unlike him, most of those guys could never shoot to begin with.
While rolling bigs like Steven Adams, Clint Capela, Rudy Gobert, Robert Williams and Jakob Poeltl never ventured outside the paint to shoot, they had elite athleticism or strength to lean back on. Some low-volume shooting bigs (Alex Len, Jonas Valanciunas) have scaled back of late, but neither were ever high-volume chuckers like Kornet.
The adjustment was a challenge at first, especially from a mental perspective.
“It was actually really hard,” Kornet said. “All of a sudden, the thing that I was most proud of and felt was my identity, and the reason I was in the NBA was kind of gone.”
Coming to terms with that type of shift was one obstacle. Figuring out how to get comfortable being a big man playing around the rim was another.
“I was slow to it,” Kornet said. “It wasn’t really due to a desire to be slow to it, but just a lot of your natural instincts were the other way.”
Kornet started putting in more work on his interior offensive game three years ago and slowly but surely improved. His path to contributing was blocked at first. He was at the bottom of a crowded depth chart that included Al Horford, Robert Williams, Grant Williams and Blake Griffin during the 2022-23 season. Kornet played well in spot minutes amid injuries, but regular opportunities were tough to come by.
Opportunity Knocks
Kornet continued to tinker with all the facets of his game offensively that were required to be an effective rim-rolling big.
“You’re kind of then starting to realize the positions that you’re in and how do I get better at those, whether it is offensive rebounding or exactly the situations to screen and when to best help guys.”
The dedication to his challenging endeavor did not go unnoticed by Boston’s front office and coaching staff, even if they weren’t still liking tweets about it.
“The self-awareness that takes, the unselfishness that takes, the willingness to put team first is super special,” Stevens said. “Luke has been a tremendous example of somebody who’s willing to do all the little things to help this thing move forward.”
With Blake Griffin, Grant Williams and Rob Williams gone, Kornet’s role grew considerably in 2023. The Celtics believed Kornet was up to the task. The unique style adjustment earned plenty of respect from his fellow bigs, including Kristaps Porzingis who was playing with him for the first time since they were together in New York in 2018.
“I was surprised that he wasn’t shooting 3s anymore,” Porzingis said. “It’s crazy something like this can happen. That’s great for him to be able to make that adjustment when a big part of your game is being taken away but still being able to adjust and play at a good level.”
Al Horford hasn’t seen anything like it during his 18-year career.
“It’s been pretty impressive for him to do it,” said Horford, who has played with Kornet in Boston now for four years. “It’s not easy. You see guys try to do it, but it’s his versatility. People can make transitions but sometimes people don’t have the success or can not make it. He’s having an impact on the championship team, and it speaks a lot about Luke and his work ethic and his character.”
Kornet is in his fourth season with Boston, playing on a veteran’s minimum deal, but he’s steadily increased his impact every year along the way. His balanced two-way play led to a bigger role last year that carried over to the playoffs when Porzingis was sidelined. Now, he’s a full-fledged member of Boston’s rotation with the third-highest net rating (+14.9) of any player in the league, all while reinventing his career along the way.
“Because of who he is and how adaptable he is, he was able to still find a way to be effective,” Porzingis said. “He’s a roll big man now. That’s a big body, smart defender, and over all of those skills that he has. Most importantly, he’s a great teammate.”
Kornet finished the 2024-25 season having attempted just three 3-point attempts (mostly heaves) while setting career-highs in rebounds, steals, assists, and blocks. Surrounded by eight strong perimeter shooters in the Celtics rotation, Kornet knows there’s no need for him to fire away – yet.
However, the big man hasn’t ruled out revisiting his perimeter roots.
“(The Celtics) have actually encouraged me to (shoot more 3s),” Kornet said. “It’s funny now at this point my mind has shifted a little bit, but there are actually some places (I could shoot), and I frankly plan on shooting a little more. You adapt to the role, and then all of a sudden, all your habits and patterns change a little bit. I definitely still work on it, and I’m capable of making shots. It’s funny because most of my life I was thinking about, How can I get a 3 off?”
Kornet will have the Celtics’ support when that day comes.
“He can actually shoot,” Horford said. “He is just choosing not to, but I wouldn’t be surprised, in some of these games at some point or another, that he needs to hit a 3, and he’ll just break it out at some point. There’s no question about it — he still has it.”
For now, Kornet is content to embrace his role, which has led him down a path he never expected to be on.
“Early on in my career, I always wondered if I’d be able to contribute to a high-end level team,” Kornet said. “I did not think it would be in this manner, but sometimes that is the divine providence.”
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