Assuming the Charlotte Hornets’ season is over, Devonte’ Graham had a really surprising sophomore year filled with plenty of highlights. Let’s take a look at his best, shall we?
Few expected second-year guard, Devonte’ Graham, to have the year he has had for the Charlotte Hornets. Last season, he was relegated to backing up Kemba Walker, so most figured he’d be resuming that role, just under the newly acquired Terry Rozier this time.
Instead, Devonte’ had arguably the best sophomore season a guard has ever had for the Hornets. His averages of 18.2 points per game and 7.5 assists per game led the team and he even finished seventh in the NBA in three-pointers made.
All of these are demonstrably better than his stats from last season, where he averaged just under five points and three assists per game. Of course, when you’re backing up a multiple-time All-Star, you’re usually not going to put up lofty numbers.
More from Swarm and Sting
- Hornets: Where does Brandon Miller’s ceiling rank among other rookies?
- Charlotte Hornets grade out mostly average in position-by-position ranking
- Hornets News: P.J. Washington makes bold statement on Brandon Miller
- Grade the mock trade: Hornets snag Tyler Herro, flip Gordon Hayward
- Will the Charlotte Hornets be in the 2024 NBA Draft Lottery?
All of this has more than solidified Graham as a candidate for the Most Improved Player award, but like a lot of things right now, that will remain to be seen. It would sure be nice to see a Charlotte Hornet take home some kind of hardware after this season.
That will have to wait for another time as for now, we’re looking back at what we think was his best overall game from this past season. There are many as the 6’1″ guard from Kansas put on a show and with the season the Hornets have had, fans certainly needed it.
So, we’ll look no further than December 11th, 2019. The Hornets were on the road taking on the Brooklyn Nets in the Barclay’s Center. The Nets had taken a 64-53 lead at the half and looked to be cruising to their second win in a week over the guys in purple and teal.
That is, until Devonte’ Graham went off for 27 points in the second half, rallying Charlotte to a 113-108 victory over the Nets. Brooklyn was over .500 at the time, but Charlotte was able to hand them their 11th loss at that point in the season.
Graham would finish the game with 40 points on 12-21 shooting, including 7-12 from behind the arc and 9-11 from the free-throw line. He also chimed in with five rebounds and five assists with just two turnovers, finishing +6 for the game.
This was just one of many outstanding performances for the young fella, but to drop a career-high in a win over a playoff-caliber team on the road is certainly something else. If he keeps this up next season, we might even have another All-Star on our hands.
If the current season is over for the Charlotte Hornets, then Devonte’ Graham showed that he is here and is definitely for real. His play this past year really made fans excited to see what he can do in the future. Here’s hoping that’s sooner, rather than later.