What Devonte' Graham's injury means for the Charlotte Hornets

After Devonte’ Graham’s potentially season-ending injury, the Charlotte Hornets are left with just Kemba Walker and Tony Parker in the PG depth chart.

We all know the basketball gods have a personal vendetta against our beloved Charlotte Hornets, and this off-season’s victim is Devonte’ Graham.

Well, first, it was actually Malik Monk when it was thought that he broke his thumb earlier in the Summer League. It appeared like he would miss his second straight off-season, but the basketball gods miraculously threw us a bone. A second examination revealed his thumb was not broken, and it looked like things were turning up for us fans.

But the basketball gods were actually just playing with us and had much more devious plans in mind.

More from Swarm and Sting

Devonte’ is now out indefinitely with an injury I’ve never heard of, which is never a good sign. The injury? A Condylar Lesion in his right knee. Of the two sources I’ve read on recovery timelines for Condylar lesions, one recommends 6-8 months before resuming athletics, and the other recommends 10 months. That would put Devonte’s return date at best in January, and at worst during the off-season.

If Devonte’ does make the 6-8 month recovery, it’s likely that the coaching staff assigns him to the Greensboro Swarm. Teams often send players to the G-league to face weaker competition and have an easier recovery. That isn’t to say that he wouldn’t get called up at all though.

So, unfortunately, we may not be seeing him get many NBA reps next season.

Will his absence affect the Hornets’ season?

While Devonte’ showed flashes in his three summer league games of his floor general abilities and potential as an NBA point guard, this injury shouldn’t adversely impact the Hornets season.

For one, he’s third in the depth chart at PG behind Kemba Walker and Tony Parker. In a recent interview, Coach James Borrego said the Hornets’ PG rotation will be Kemba seeing 33-34 minutes/night, and Tony Parker seeing the remaining 14-15 minutes. So from a minutes standpoint, Devonte was already projecting to play most of his minutes in garbage time.

Injury, however, will likely force one of Kemba or TP to miss time at some point during the season. That being said, Kemba has been incredibly durable throughout his career, missing only 6 games in the past 3 seasons; and Tony, while injury prone in his later years, will be playing the least minutes of his career. That should serve to mitigate the risks of a serious injury.

Malik Monk

Even if the injury does rear its ugly head with Kemba or TP, Malik Monk is more than capable of stepping in.

When Coach Clifford actually gave Monk meaningful minutes, he performed. In the last six games of the season, he dropped 19.8 ppg and 4 assists on 46.7% shooting over just 24 minutes/game. That comes out to be a whopping 29 ppg along with 6 assists per-36 minutes. That stretch silenced any doubt that he wasn’t a capable ball handler and offensive weapon.

Luckily, Coach JB also recently stated that Monk will be a “major player” for the Hornets next season. Look for him to assume more ball-handling responsibilities and be the guy who fills in at PG when needed next season.

Free Agency

The Hornets could also replenish their depth at PG by signing a veteran free agent to a minimum contract. A minimum contract is about $1.5 million, which the Hornets can afford with their $3.5 million in luxury tax room.

I recently wrote about some veteran PG’s the Hornets could target in free agency, and a couple is still available. Players like Devin Harris and Mario Chalmers are solid backups with veteran experience that can also step into the starting lineup and perform when needed. Other notable vets on the market include Jameer Nelson, Jarrett Jack, and Ty Lawson.

The Hornets can sign one of those guys now during the off-season, or on a need-be basis during the season. For example, if Tony Parker gets injured in January, the Hornets can go sign Mario Chalmers to fill in. Signing him then is cheaper than signing him now since Chalmers wouldn’t be playing the full season.

Teams can also sign players to 10-day contracts starting in January.

These contracts are very cheap, typically starting at below $100,000, and you can sign a player to two of them. After the second contract, the team can either sign them for the rest of the season or let them walk. You can’t sign a player to three 10-day contracts.

The New Orleans Pelicans, for example, signed Emeka Okafor to two 10-day contracts midway through last season when Demarcus Cousins went down. They then signed him for the rest of the season after the second contract expired. He ended up making $592,030 for 26 games, including 13 starts.

The Bottom Line

While it’s sad that we probably won’t see Devonte’ play a lot this season after his solid Summer League, it shouldn’t significantly affect the Hornets this season. JB can always turn to Malik Monk for minutes at PG, and there’s enough tax room to sign another PG. Plus, there’s always the chance that he recovers sooner than expected and does end up continuing to impress and make contributions to the team.

Next: Draft grades for the last 10 years

Here’s to hoping Devonte’ makes a full and speedy recovery. We’re all excited for your return and are rooting for you!

Home/Hornets News

Charlotte Hornets: What Devonte’ Graham’s injury means for the season

By Walker Harris | Jul 16, 2018