The absence of CJ McCollum had bothered New Orleans Pelicans faithful. They had to look for a new facilitator. One who could back up the numbers of Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram against the Denver Nuggets. There were a lot of options but apparently, the freshly-crowned national champion out of the UConn basketball squad would be the next man up. Jordan Hawkins knew his role pretty well and even notched a record that only six other rookies in their franchise have accomplished.

The New Orleans Pelicans have a new super rookie in their hands. This is after CJ McCollum was listed as unavailable in their Nuggets matchup. He goes by the name of Jordan Hawkins and the spotlight is never too bright for him. He became the sixth rookie in Pelicans history to have recorded a 30-point game, per Pelicans PR. He now joins an exclusive list composed of Zion Williamson, Marcus Thornton, Darren Collison, Trey Murphy III, and JR Smith.

More than that, the UConn basketball alum is already a step ahead of other members of their draft class. He and Victor Wembanyama are the only rookies to have notched a 30-point game so far in the season, via StatMuse.

Hawkins was not just a walking bucket. He was able to facilitate the Pelicans offense well which notched him three dimes on 38 minutes of playing time. More than this, he kept his March Madness run improvement of crashing the boards. This got him seven rebounds to round out his insane performance.

Is he the next big thing for the Pelicans?