Charlotte Hornets’ Devonte Graham understands griping isn’t in the job description
Asking a starter in the middle of a contract season to come off the bench could be a real hassle.
Charlotte Hornets coach James Borrego knew that wouldn’t be the case with Devonte Graham.
“He’s not fighting it. He embraces it,” Borrego said of Graham serving as the backup point guard behind rookie LaMelo Ball. “I’ve seen other players have a really hard time. But I have no worries Tae can’t handle this role.”
Graham certainly looked comfortable Saturday in a 114-104 home victory over the Toronto Raptors. He finished with 17 points and four assists in 17 minutes, making five of his nine attempts from 3-point range.
Graham came back Thursday against the Detroit Pistons after missing seven consecutive games with a sore left kneecap. So he’s both been testing his body and adapting to being a reserve after starting continuously since 11 games into last season.
There’s plenty at stake for Graham, a second-round pick in the 2018 NBA draft. He hasn’t made much money so far by NBA standards. In fact, his $1.66 million salary wasn’t even guaranteed at the outset of the season.
Graham will be a restricted free agent after this season. He figured to get a huge raise in his next contract, and probably still will, but his trajectory isn’t the same as when he finished last season in the Most Improved Player discussion.
He went through a shooting slump earlier this season, then this injury. In the meantime, third-overall pick Ball is such a sensation (23 points, nine rebounds and six assists against the Raptors) that Borrego even considering not keeping him in the starting unit would have been lunacy.
So, with Terry Rozier playing so well at shooting guard, Graham was the obvious person to shift to the second unit.
This is only as much of a problem as Graham allows it to be. He emphatically says it’s no problem at all.
“It’s pretty simple: Show up and do your job,” Graham said. “I haven’t always been a starter. I know what it’s like to come off the bench.”
Devonte Graham — practical, adaptive, mature
Graham is different from a lot of young NBA players in that he was never the chosen one. Raised in Raleigh, he wasn’t widely recruited until his senior year of high school, after he had signed a letter of intent at Appalachian State. He went to prep school in New England, ended up at Kansas, and had a solid, but far from meteoric, college career.
He spent most of his rookie Hornets season watching and got into the starting lineup his second season partially because Dwayne Bacon busted. He never had reason to feel NBA-entitled.
“I know what it’s like not to play at all,” Graham said. “You just show up, do your job and be professional. That’s what it’s all about.”
This reshuffling of the rotation looks promising. Ball is the point guard, but there are four others — Rozier, Gordon Hayward, Graham and Malik Monk — who can both score and make plays. That made for a lovely offense in the first quarter Saturday, when Charlotte hit a team-record 11 3-pointers and 12 of the 14 baskets were assisted.
This basketball was both good and entertaining on the first night the general public was admitted to Spectrum Center this season. By game’s end, the Hornets totaled 30 assists.
“It’s beautiful to play and beautiful to watch,” said Ball, who clearly thrived off the interaction with about 3,000 fans allowed in under North Carolina capacity restrictions.
Depth is a new-found Hornets strength
Never before in Borrego’s 2 1/2 seasons has too much depth been a job complication. He’s playing 10-deep now, with a series of February injuries healed.
Graham no longer starting doesn’t ship him off to Siberia. He’ll still play a lot, and in significant situations. Borrego is finally in a position where minutes decisions are more by choice than by predicament.
The results are encouraging, as the Hornets pursue their first playoff appearance in five seasons. At 19-18, they are above .500 this deep into a season for the first time since 2016-17.
Borrego doesn’t worry about Graham losing focus because that’s not how he is wired.
“He’s just that type of player. He’s so versatile and just eager to help this team in whatever fashion. He’s not fighting it,” Borrego said, adding, “I look at him as a veteran now.”
Graham’s head is right, and finally his body is, too.
“He looks more and more comfortable out there on both sides of the ball,” Borrego said.
“That’s the Tae we know.”
This story was originally published March 14, 2021 at 7:00 AM.
