In the early going of the 2019-20 NBA season, Devonte’ Graham of the Charlotte Hornets is easily one of the most improved players in the NBA following an unimpressive rookie campaign after playing four years of college with Kansas.
On Wednesday night, the 24-year-old sophomore guard produced one of the best games of his young career for the Hornets against the Brooklyn Nets by delivering back-to-back buckets to seal the comeback win, including this beautiful high-arching triple against Joe Harris.
Devonte' Graham is a bad man. pic.twitter.com/x2MFClw3Cu
— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) December 12, 2019
Graham notched his career-high with 40 points scored as well as 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Those 40 points by Graham were accrued on an extraordinarily efficient 12 of 21 shooting, including 7 of 12 from downtown and 9 of 11 from the free throw line.
The former Jayhawks guard carried himself like an eight-year veteran on Wednesday night against the Nets, as he was cool, calm and collected on the way to slicing and dicing Brooklyn’s defense on the road.
Graham has transformed himself after a subpar rookie season, and he and Terry Rozier have certainly made up for the lack of Kemba Walker this season.
According to ESPN’s real plus/minus impact metric, Graham is among the top 40 players in the NBA (Graham ranks 31st with a 2.88 in RPM). In offensive real plus/minus, Graham is 26th with a 2.50 ahead of players such as Pascal Siakam, Ben Simmons, Lou Williams and Kyle Lowry.
Heading into tonight’s action, Graham was 2nd in the NBA in three-pointers made (96) and third in attempts (228). Shooting 42.1 percent from deep on that kind of volume (57.3 percent attempt rate) is sure to turn some heads, and the 24-year-old truly deserves a look for the All-Star game in the Eastern Conference this season.
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