December 3, 2025 • 11 mins
Shannon Spake, pre and postgame host and sideline reporter for the Hornets on FanDuel Sports, joins the show to talk about Kon Knueppel's torrid start to his career, the morale of the team after the loss to Brooklyn and the challenge of playing in The Garden.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Shannon Spake, the Charlotte Hornets sideline reporter, a part of
FanDuel Sports Network, also host of the Spake Up Podcast.
Follow her on Twitter at Shannon Spake and go follow
the podcast at Spake Up Podcast. I already did you
have no excuse? Go to Twitter right now, Instagram go
follow her Shannon Spake and Spake Up Podcast. Shannon, thank
(00:20):
you so much for joining me on Wes and Walker.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
How are you doing.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
I'm great, just spending some time in New York City here.
We've been here since I guess Sunday afternoon is when
we got here play tonight. We had yesterday off, which
was nice. I know everyone was kind of busy doing
their own things. I did not leave the hotel all
day long, which is a beautiful thing. But yeah, we've
you know, getting ready for tonight, as you mentioned, and
I think a little bit of the our word revenge
(00:44):
is probably on the minds of a lot of these
players because we know how things went down on Wednesday.
You were on that broadcast with me. We saw the
disappointment and you know all that good stuff. So yeah,
I think everyone's just kind of getting their minds right well.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Before we dive into the basketball of it all. You
said you were just hanging out at the hotel, not
a big city person. Like, did you want to go
for a night on the town with Dell and Eric
and party it up?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
That wasn't gonna happen with you guys.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
So I have two kids, three dogs, a cat. Okay,
So when I get a chance to have like zero
like zero people sort of meeting me for pulling me
in different directions, I take that opportunity. So No, I
actually lived in New York for three years right out
of college, and so I've seen the city. Don the
city and the inside of my room was nice and quiet,
(01:29):
had something to eat, got a little workout in, and
enjoyed my time alone.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
All Right, Well that's I guess that's acceptable. See I
don't have all of the kids and all of the
animals or anything like that, so maybe it would be
different from me. I will say it does look like
Conk Nipple is living it up. He appeared on Jimmy
Fallon last night. I will say, like Conk Nipple because
he's been amazing in his rookie season. The fact that
he's clearly the rookie of the year. To me, he
(01:55):
wins Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month, well deserved. I
don't think anybody was really all that close in my opinion,
and he's playing like an All Star. What's been most
impressive to you, Shannon covering con Kin Nipple to the
first twenty games or so this year, something that maybe
not enough people are talking about, or just the overall
thing that's impressed you the most.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
I know that like it's so cliche or whatever to
say everything, but truly, it's like some of his shots
when they go in it's the thing with beauty and
you just go wow, And like I'll be sitting there
and I'll look at somebody and I'll be like, holy cow,
and everyone just kind of nods their head and then
you know, I mean, he openly at the beginning of
the season talked about how defensively he wasn't the most
you know, he wasn't the most athletic person. Bob. I
(02:35):
think all of that is crap because I think like
what we've seen out of him in terms of being
able to use his body and being really smart in
the way that he uses his body. I saw an
article I think was The Athletic Today that says he
only has two offensive bouves all season long, which is
you know, amazing. Like the way he plays is just
very smart. I also am so impressed with like the
person that he is. Every single time he sees me,
(02:59):
Hi Shan, then how are you right? And like, you know,
that's that's a given for a lot, but like you
don't always get that out of athletes, especially young athletes
who have been in the spotlight for as much time
as he has. I think he's a really well rounded person.
I hear him talking about football and NFL, and so
I think that there's just so much to him. I
also love how he's humbly, very honest. A lot of
(03:21):
players that I've covered, I don't know, like they won't
like if they take the praise. Sometimes it sounds like
they're you know a little too you know, high on themselves.
If they don't take the praise, you know that they
really are thinking about it and just a want to
talk about it. I think, like I just asked him
about being an Eastern Conference Player of the Month and
he's like, it's really great because you know, I'm putting
(03:42):
in a lot of work and for us all to
get recognized and for me, you know, for this recognition,
it's huge, And he did text with Cooper flag he
told me because of course they both they both got
those honors. But I just think that the person that
he is, the player that he is, it's not surprising
that he's so well rounded because that's also the type
of person that he is. So it really is everything Shannon.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
It feels like the team has responded well to who
he is as a person and who he is as
a player. Miles Bridges said that he had been the
best player all year long.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
He continues to play like it.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
It feels like teammates have responded to what he is
as a basketball player. How do you feel the way
that the team is responding to whu khn is as
a as a player and a person.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Well, I mean you lead by example, right, I mean
there are guys that get in there and are very
loud and make a lot of noise, and then when
you know when it's time, when the lights come on,
they don't really back it up. And I think he's
not the loudest kid. You can see that he leads
by example. He's out there, he's putting in the work,
never takes a playoff never takes a playoff if you
watch him, even towards the end of the game, even when,
(04:44):
like if the score I don't remember. Maybe it was
a home of one of the games last week, I
don't know. I don't think it was the next one.
They all run together at this point Walker and I
remember watching him, like literally the way that he played
defense in the closing minutes of the game. And it
wasn't one of our wins. I just was like, I've
watched a lot of football players who play to the very,
(05:06):
very very last play, and that is very impressive, especially
for a young player. I'm drawing a blank on the
player at Detroit right now. I just I'm so in
in deep with the NBA defensive guy. I just I'm
literally just drawing a blank right now. But I remember
watching him play to the very last play, regardless of
what the score was, and moments like that that is
(05:28):
recognized by not only you know, me and people on
the sideline and the coaches, but by the teammates as well. Well.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
And Shannon, look, you've been covering the team for the
last couple of years. Now, with what we've seen from
this squad, we had high hopes we thought this would
be a fun team. They still are fun at times.
They haven't gotten as many wins, and the loss against
Brooklyn that was disappointing. How would you describe the morale
of the roster as it currently stands.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
I think it goes up and down, Walker, and I
think that you can attest to that, right. I think
that there are times where and even last year, where
the team really played very, very tough and even if
they lost, they were like okay. And again there's no
moral victories here, but I do think that there was
I just think up and down, right. I think after
that NIXT game you and I talked, I think that
there was a point where I was like, wow, I
(06:14):
haven't seen this mood and it was and I think
and you saw what they were able to do when
they kind of came back and got two in a row.
I do feel like they're maybe feeling that a little
bit right now. I obviously you heard that you played
the comments on I'll give you a drop on your
podcast that I lost on Hornets Have More Awesome, Shannon.
I know I listened this morning and you played the
(06:36):
you know, you talked about the con quote that he
gave Rod and so I do think that there's a
sense of you know, pride that's been hit a little bit,
and tonight'll be a good test. I mean, obviously, the
Knicks are a great team. They've got a lot of
veterans who played together for a long time. And you
not only think about the guys that are on this
team plane together, but the core of Villanova players who
(06:58):
were together. There is a lot to said about how
well those guys play together. They've known each other for
a very very long time, and they're coming off the
back to back, right or a game. This is a
back to back for them, and it was a you know, hey,
last night was a was the one that was probably
you know, starred for a long time, you know, with
the Celtics. So we'll see how tonight goes. I think
(07:18):
it could really be an opportunity. And a lot of
these guys are playing at Madison Square Garden for the
first time, which is a bright light, big city kind
of thing where you walk out there and you go,
holy crap, I'm at MSP. I don't care who you are,
that happens, right. I just walked by there and on
the outside of the building you've got coach k picture
with a with a quote about Madison Square Garden. You've
(07:38):
got John Caliperry with a quote about Madison Square Garden.
However you cut it, this is a This is a
big moment for a lot of these young kids.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
How's the arena to be a sideline reporter in? Like,
where does that rank among all the arenas?
Speaker 3 (07:51):
It's awesome. I've actually covered so. I covered a Saint
John's game here, Saint John's, Kentucky. I did a couple
of tournaments here. There was an under armour tournament one
time when I was here, so that was really cool.
I'm trying to think what else I did when I
lived in New York City. I actually worked like a
VH one Fashion Awards here, and I did a HBO
(08:12):
Sport Sugar Shane Moseley boxing match back in two thousand
or two thousand and one. I was a runner for that.
I actually got paid like fifty dollars for twelve hours,
and it was the beast night of my life. It
was the best side of my life. Like Sugar Shane Mosley,
like I got sweat on me from being so close
to us, you know, to the action. So Madison Square garden.
(08:32):
This place like you walk up and you try to
play it cool. You try to be like, all right,
it's just another arena, but it's not. It's a very
cool place.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
They've seen legends like Shannon Spake there on the sideline
Charlotte Hornet sideline reporter Shannon Spake, joining us from the
FANDUL Sports Network, host of the Spake Up Podcast. Last
thing before we get you out of here, I want
to plug your pod, Shannon. I think it's really interesting.
I caught your episode with Patrick Young, who really brought
one back college basketball and nostalgia, but also his story
is very interesting. I just wanted to give you the
(09:01):
platform also to say, what has been your favorite moment
that you've had with this podcast in existence?
Speaker 2 (09:07):
What has it been like a year now, like barely
over a year.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Yeah, six months. I think one of my favorite conversations
was with Kurt Busch because back in the day, like
in two thousand and six, two thousand and seven, Kurt
was a pretty volatile person, like when he was you know, racing,
and he and I had run ins, and I was
a very young reporter at the time, and that those
moments were pretty influential in my life and to be
able to sit down and talk to him about those
(09:32):
moments that like impacted me and it made me stronger,
is what it did. And even when I was able
to talk to Tony Stewart, that was a big one too,
because again, people like that really taught me how to
handle situations and how to be better at this job.
But how do you know that, like John cal Perry
was great brad Nessler. I've had so many really amazing guests,
(09:54):
and some of them have been for selfish reasons because
I think their story is really really cool. I actually
just dropped one yesterday with Tom Stillow, who's the fifty
eight year old who played I think Division one at
like homb College this past season. Like he literally, you know,
he got into drugs and alcohol when he first got
out of high school and wasn't able to go to
(10:14):
college and wasn't able to play, and he's just kind
of like he's been in shape doing like strongman events
and triathlons, and he woke up and he's like, I'm
going to go back to college and I think I
want to try to go out for the football team,
and he did. He didn't play in a game but
he was there for all the practices and his story
is just, I mean just amazing of like not letting
(10:36):
the right now determine who you're going to be regardless
of what age you are. So I thought that was
a pretty cool story as well, and that one's out
right now.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Yeah, awesome stuff like high quality production content, all fantastic.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Spake Up Podcast.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Go follow Shannon Spake and Spake Up Podcast also has
its own Twitter accounts to make sure you follow both.
That's the Great Shannon Spake joining us here on Western
Walker Sports rating ninety two seven WFNZ. Make sure you
cant the broadcast tonight Hornets take on the Knicks on
the Road in Madison Square Garden. Tip Off is set
for seven point thirty and of course you can catch
them pregame at seven o'clock. Shannon, thank you so much.
(11:10):
We really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
You go, Hornet
Shannon Spake, the Charlotte Hornets sideline reporter, a part of
FanDuel Sports Network, also host of the Spake Up Podcast.
Follow her on Twitter at Shannon Spake and go follow
the podcast at Spake Up Podcast. I already did you
have no excuse? Go to Twitter right now, Instagram go
follow her Shannon Spake and Spake Up Podcast. Shannon, thank
(00:20):
you so much for joining me on Wes and Walker.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
How are you doing.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
I'm great, just spending some time in New York City here.
We've been here since I guess Sunday afternoon is when
we got here play tonight. We had yesterday off, which
was nice. I know everyone was kind of busy doing
their own things. I did not leave the hotel all
day long, which is a beautiful thing. But yeah, we've
you know, getting ready for tonight, as you mentioned, and
I think a little bit of the our word revenge
(00:44):
is probably on the minds of a lot of these
players because we know how things went down on Wednesday.
You were on that broadcast with me. We saw the
disappointment and you know all that good stuff. So yeah,
I think everyone's just kind of getting their minds right well.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Before we dive into the basketball of it all. You
said you were just hanging out at the hotel, not
a big city person. Like, did you want to go
for a night on the town with Dell and Eric
and party it up?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
That wasn't gonna happen with you guys.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
So I have two kids, three dogs, a cat. Okay,
So when I get a chance to have like zero
like zero people sort of meeting me for pulling me
in different directions, I take that opportunity. So No, I
actually lived in New York for three years right out
of college, and so I've seen the city. Don the
city and the inside of my room was nice and quiet,
(01:29):
had something to eat, got a little workout in, and
enjoyed my time alone.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
All Right, Well that's I guess that's acceptable. See I
don't have all of the kids and all of the
animals or anything like that, so maybe it would be
different from me. I will say it does look like
Conk Nipple is living it up. He appeared on Jimmy
Fallon last night. I will say, like Conk Nipple because
he's been amazing in his rookie season. The fact that
he's clearly the rookie of the year. To me, he
(01:55):
wins Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month, well deserved. I
don't think anybody was really all that close in my opinion,
and he's playing like an All Star. What's been most
impressive to you, Shannon covering con Kin Nipple to the
first twenty games or so this year, something that maybe
not enough people are talking about, or just the overall
thing that's impressed you the most.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
I know that like it's so cliche or whatever to
say everything, but truly, it's like some of his shots
when they go in it's the thing with beauty and
you just go wow, And like I'll be sitting there
and I'll look at somebody and I'll be like, holy cow,
and everyone just kind of nods their head and then
you know, I mean, he openly at the beginning of
the season talked about how defensively he wasn't the most
you know, he wasn't the most athletic person. Bob. I
(02:35):
think all of that is crap because I think like
what we've seen out of him in terms of being
able to use his body and being really smart in
the way that he uses his body. I saw an
article I think was The Athletic Today that says he
only has two offensive bouves all season long, which is
you know, amazing. Like the way he plays is just
very smart. I also am so impressed with like the
person that he is. Every single time he sees me,
(02:59):
Hi Shan, then how are you right? And like, you know,
that's that's a given for a lot, but like you
don't always get that out of athletes, especially young athletes
who have been in the spotlight for as much time
as he has. I think he's a really well rounded person.
I hear him talking about football and NFL, and so
I think that there's just so much to him. I
also love how he's humbly, very honest. A lot of
(03:21):
players that I've covered, I don't know, like they won't
like if they take the praise. Sometimes it sounds like
they're you know a little too you know, high on themselves.
If they don't take the praise, you know that they
really are thinking about it and just a want to
talk about it. I think, like I just asked him
about being an Eastern Conference Player of the Month and
he's like, it's really great because you know, I'm putting
(03:42):
in a lot of work and for us all to
get recognized and for me, you know, for this recognition,
it's huge, And he did text with Cooper flag he
told me because of course they both they both got
those honors. But I just think that the person that
he is, the player that he is, it's not surprising
that he's so well rounded because that's also the type
of person that he is. So it really is everything Shannon.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
It feels like the team has responded well to who
he is as a person and who he is as
a player. Miles Bridges said that he had been the
best player all year long.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
He continues to play like it.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
It feels like teammates have responded to what he is
as a basketball player. How do you feel the way
that the team is responding to whu khn is as
a as a player and a person.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Well, I mean you lead by example, right, I mean
there are guys that get in there and are very
loud and make a lot of noise, and then when
you know when it's time, when the lights come on,
they don't really back it up. And I think he's
not the loudest kid. You can see that he leads
by example. He's out there, he's putting in the work,
never takes a playoff never takes a playoff if you
watch him, even towards the end of the game, even when,
(04:44):
like if the score I don't remember. Maybe it was
a home of one of the games last week, I
don't know. I don't think it was the next one.
They all run together at this point Walker and I
remember watching him, like literally the way that he played
defense in the closing minutes of the game. And it
wasn't one of our wins. I just was like, I've
watched a lot of football players who play to the very,
(05:06):
very very last play, and that is very impressive, especially
for a young player. I'm drawing a blank on the
player at Detroit right now. I just I'm so in
in deep with the NBA defensive guy. I just I'm
literally just drawing a blank right now. But I remember
watching him play to the very last play, regardless of
what the score was, and moments like that that is
(05:28):
recognized by not only you know, me and people on
the sideline and the coaches, but by the teammates as well. Well.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
And Shannon, look, you've been covering the team for the
last couple of years. Now, with what we've seen from
this squad, we had high hopes we thought this would
be a fun team. They still are fun at times.
They haven't gotten as many wins, and the loss against
Brooklyn that was disappointing. How would you describe the morale
of the roster as it currently stands.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
I think it goes up and down, Walker, and I
think that you can attest to that, right. I think
that there are times where and even last year, where
the team really played very, very tough and even if
they lost, they were like okay. And again there's no
moral victories here, but I do think that there was
I just think up and down, right. I think after
that NIXT game you and I talked, I think that
there was a point where I was like, wow, I
(06:14):
haven't seen this mood and it was and I think
and you saw what they were able to do when
they kind of came back and got two in a row.
I do feel like they're maybe feeling that a little
bit right now. I obviously you heard that you played
the comments on I'll give you a drop on your
podcast that I lost on Hornets Have More Awesome, Shannon.
I know I listened this morning and you played the
(06:36):
you know, you talked about the con quote that he
gave Rod and so I do think that there's a
sense of you know, pride that's been hit a little bit,
and tonight'll be a good test. I mean, obviously, the
Knicks are a great team. They've got a lot of
veterans who played together for a long time. And you
not only think about the guys that are on this
team plane together, but the core of Villanova players who
(06:58):
were together. There is a lot to said about how
well those guys play together. They've known each other for
a very very long time, and they're coming off the
back to back, right or a game. This is a
back to back for them, and it was a you know, hey,
last night was a was the one that was probably
you know, starred for a long time, you know, with
the Celtics. So we'll see how tonight goes. I think
(07:18):
it could really be an opportunity. And a lot of
these guys are playing at Madison Square Garden for the
first time, which is a bright light, big city kind
of thing where you walk out there and you go,
holy crap, I'm at MSP. I don't care who you are,
that happens, right. I just walked by there and on
the outside of the building you've got coach k picture
with a with a quote about Madison Square Garden. You've
(07:38):
got John Caliperry with a quote about Madison Square Garden.
However you cut it, this is a This is a
big moment for a lot of these young kids.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
How's the arena to be a sideline reporter in? Like,
where does that rank among all the arenas?
Speaker 3 (07:51):
It's awesome. I've actually covered so. I covered a Saint
John's game here, Saint John's, Kentucky. I did a couple
of tournaments here. There was an under armour tournament one
time when I was here, so that was really cool.
I'm trying to think what else I did when I
lived in New York City. I actually worked like a
VH one Fashion Awards here, and I did a HBO
(08:12):
Sport Sugar Shane Moseley boxing match back in two thousand
or two thousand and one. I was a runner for that.
I actually got paid like fifty dollars for twelve hours,
and it was the beast night of my life. It
was the best side of my life. Like Sugar Shane Mosley,
like I got sweat on me from being so close
to us, you know, to the action. So Madison Square garden.
(08:32):
This place like you walk up and you try to
play it cool. You try to be like, all right,
it's just another arena, but it's not. It's a very
cool place.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
They've seen legends like Shannon Spake there on the sideline
Charlotte Hornet sideline reporter Shannon Spake, joining us from the
FANDUL Sports Network, host of the Spake Up Podcast. Last
thing before we get you out of here, I want
to plug your pod, Shannon. I think it's really interesting.
I caught your episode with Patrick Young, who really brought
one back college basketball and nostalgia, but also his story
is very interesting. I just wanted to give you the
(09:01):
platform also to say, what has been your favorite moment
that you've had with this podcast in existence?
Speaker 2 (09:07):
What has it been like a year now, like barely
over a year.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Yeah, six months. I think one of my favorite conversations
was with Kurt Busch because back in the day, like
in two thousand and six, two thousand and seven, Kurt
was a pretty volatile person, like when he was you know, racing,
and he and I had run ins, and I was
a very young reporter at the time, and that those
moments were pretty influential in my life and to be
able to sit down and talk to him about those
(09:32):
moments that like impacted me and it made me stronger,
is what it did. And even when I was able
to talk to Tony Stewart, that was a big one too,
because again, people like that really taught me how to
handle situations and how to be better at this job.
But how do you know that, like John cal Perry
was great brad Nessler. I've had so many really amazing guests,
(09:54):
and some of them have been for selfish reasons because
I think their story is really really cool. I actually
just dropped one yesterday with Tom Stillow, who's the fifty
eight year old who played I think Division one at
like homb College this past season. Like he literally, you know,
he got into drugs and alcohol when he first got
out of high school and wasn't able to go to
(10:14):
college and wasn't able to play, and he's just kind
of like he's been in shape doing like strongman events
and triathlons, and he woke up and he's like, I'm
going to go back to college and I think I
want to try to go out for the football team,
and he did. He didn't play in a game but
he was there for all the practices and his story
is just, I mean just amazing of like not letting
(10:36):
the right now determine who you're going to be regardless
of what age you are. So I thought that was
a pretty cool story as well, and that one's out
right now.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Yeah, awesome stuff like high quality production content, all fantastic.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Spake Up Podcast.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Go follow Shannon Spake and Spake Up Podcast also has
its own Twitter accounts to make sure you follow both.
That's the Great Shannon Spake joining us here on Western
Walker Sports rating ninety two seven WFNZ. Make sure you
cant the broadcast tonight Hornets take on the Knicks on
the Road in Madison Square Garden. Tip Off is set
for seven point thirty and of course you can catch
them pregame at seven o'clock. Shannon, thank you so much.
(11:10):
We really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
You go, Hornet
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Are You A Charlotte?
In 1997, actress Kristin Davis’ life was forever changed when she took on the role of Charlotte York in Sex and the City. As we watched Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte navigate relationships in NYC, the show helped push once unacceptable conversation topics out of the shadows and altered the narrative around women and sex. We all saw ourselves in them as they searched for fulfillment in life, sex and friendships. Now, Kristin Davis wants to connect with you, the fans, and share untold stories and all the behind the scenes. Together, with Kristin and special guests, what will begin with Sex and the City will evolve into talks about themes that are still so relevant today. "Are you a Charlotte?" is much more than just rewatching this beloved show, it brings the past and the present together as we talk with heart, humor and of course some optimism.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.