Charlotte Hornets: Tony Parker needs to be apart of the rotation

With the Charlotte Hornets on the brink of making it into the playoffs, it would make sense to have Tony Parker back in the rotation moving forward.

When Tony Parker was signed by the Charlotte Hornets last July, you knew he would play a major role for the franchise. The team’s goal has always been make the playoffs, and adding a former four-time NBA Champion would strengthen your odds.

Even though Parker is 36 years old and is in his 18th NBA season, he was indeed making a big impact on the Hornets early on in the season. However, now in the final stretch of the season, Parker doesn’t even get up off the bench.

Since the middle of last month, James Borrego has used his young players a lot more frequently, and that means rookie Devonte’ Graham has leapfrogged Parker as the backup point guard of Kemba Walker.

Parker’s last appearance on the court was on March 17th in Miami. Ever since then, Borrego has rolled with Graham, and the rookie from Kansas has been solid, but not as good as Parker was throughout the season.

Seeing Graham along with Miles Bridges, Dwayne Bacon and a touch of Malik Monk has been great, but with the Hornets now desperate to get back to the playoffs, it’s time to play Parker again and let the veteran do his thing.

Part of the reason why he was brought to Charlotte was for him to be apart of big games. He hasn’t done very much losing during his NBA career, so his winning mentality should rub off on the other guys.

I understand that this rotation of young players has been a success thus far and changing it would be a risk, but I believe giving Parker minutes would help solidify the second unit and having championship experience in the game never hurts.

Parker has literally won games this season with his strong play off of the bench. His veteran presence would be useful during scoring droughts and during times when the team just needs to settle down and get into a good set.

On the season, the future Hall of Famer is averaging 9.5 points and 3.7 assists in 17.9 minutes. He signed a two-year deal with Charlotte last summer, but his salary for next season is non-guaranteed up until July 3rd.

Charlotte has just two games left, against the Cavaliers and Magic, but they are both absolute must-wins. If the Hornets lose either of those games, they will not be in the playoffs this year.

They will also need the Pistons to lose one game, but with the struggling Grizzlies and Knicks next up on their schedule, it may not be looking good for Charlotte.

The best thing that the Charlotte Hornets can do is keep playing how they are playing and just win out the rest of the way. Whatever happens, the Hornets have fought really hard and I think Parker would certainly give the team a boost for these final two games.