Charlotte Hornets: Devonte Graham is showing early signs of greatness
Despite a 1-1 start to the 2019-20 season for the Charlotte Hornets, one player has started the year hot, averaging over 20 points per game.
While entering a rebuild season, the Charlotte Hornets have seen a lot of production early from their back-up point guard. It may be too early to tell, but Devonte Graham has easily been the best player on the Hornets so far.
Coming off the bench in the first two games of this season, Graham has averaged 23.5 points and 6.0 assists per game for the Hornets. In doing so, Graham has also managed to go 12 out of 16 from beyond the three-point line.
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No one expected Graham to come out scoring and being as productive as he’s been, but he’s finding ways to excel in his new role. Graham was the third-string point guard for the Hornets last season during his rookie year.
In his rookie season, Graham averaged 4.7 points and 2.6 assists per game. He only saw playing time in forty-six games last season, while only getting 14.7 minutes per game to play.
However, this year, Graham has been able to play for 27.5 minutes per game for the Hornets. He’s received the fourth-most minutes per game out of all players on his team so far. Graham has seen more playing time per game than Terry Rozier (24.0 MPG) and Dwayne Bacon (27.0 MPG).
Devonte Graham solidified himself as the team’s leading scorer after Charlotte’s recent loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday. In that loss, Graham picked up a new career-high in points in a game with 24.
Graham also was able to make six threes in this game; this was his second consecutive game with six made three-pointers. Graham finished last season with only 34 made threes, and now he already has a quarter of those made in his first two games of this season.
Graham’s success has also led to him being the team’s leading scorer after the team’s second game. The next person behind him in scoring his rookie PJ Washinton with 18.5 points per game.
If Devonte Graham continues scoring at this rate, he could be on his way to winning the league’s Most-Improved Award or even be the Sixth-Man of the Year. If Graham wants to have a third consecutive high-scoring game, he will need to come out playing well against the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night.
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Charlotte has a tough Western Conference foe to take on, and the team must shake off their previous loss to the Timberwolves. It’ll be exciting to see if Graham continues this elevated style of play.