Hornets Graham, Bridges and Washington all make Rising Stars at All-Star Weekend
In a Charlotte Hornets season all about development, three young guys will represent the franchise in the Rising Stars game at All-Star Weekend.
Point guard Devonte Graham and forwards Miles Bridges and P.J. Washington were named to the squad representing the United States, which will play a group of young NBA players from other countries. The game is Feb. 14 at the United Center in Chicago (9 p.m. on TNT), as part of NBA All-Star Weekend.
Graham and Bridges are Hornets starters in their second seasons. Washington, a first-round pick out of Kentucky, has started throughout his rookie season in Charlotte.
Graham is frequently discussed as a candidate for the NBA’s most improved player award. He leads the Hornets in scoring (18.2 points per game) and is among the NBA’s leaders in 3-pointers made and attempted.
Washington, a 6-foot-7 power forward, is among rookie leaders in almost every statistical category, including points (12.2), rebounds (5.3), blocks (0.8) and steals (0.9).
Bridges, who starts at small forward, averages 12.2 points and 5.4 rebounds. While he was not selected for Rising Stars as a rookie a year ago, this won’t be his first participation in All-Star Weekend. He was in the field for the slam-dunk contest at 2019 All-Star Weekend in Charlotte.
Hornets coach James Borrego made a hard pivot toward playing youth at the outset of this season, following the departure of All-Star point guard Kemba Walker to the Boston Celtics. So far, four players in their first or second NBA season-- those three plus second-round rookie Cody Martin -- have combined to play 4,923 minutes this season, or 42 percent of the Hornets’ total playing time.
Ten-man Rising Stars squads for both teams were selected in a vote by NBA assistant coaches. The 40-minute game will be broken into 10-minute quarters.
This story was originally published January 31, 2020 at 12:36 PM.
