Kansas basketball: Devonte’ Graham gets shoutout from LeBron James
Former Kansas basketball star Devonte’ Graham got a big shout out from one of the greatest NBA players of all time: LeBron James.
A lot of people have been talking about Kansas basketball’s Devonte’ Graham after his second NBA season. NBA all-star and former MVP Kevin Durant has hyped up Graham after his incredible season, and now LeBron James had name-dropped him too.
James mentioned Graham when talking about the awards process for different NBA awards like MVP, Rookie of the Year, and Most Improved Player. Graham seemed to be an easy candidate to win the MIP award; however, he was not even a finalist.
To put it in perspective, Graham averaged 4.7 points and 2.6 assists per game in his rookie season. Last year, he put up 18.2 points and 7.5 assists per game with the Hornets. James talked about Graham’s improvement while questioning the voting process for the awards after not receiving very many MVP votes:
"“And then I looked at the Most Improved this year, and rightfully so, Brandon Ingram was amazing and I thought he should’ve won it, but did you see the votes Devonte’ Graham got? He averaged four points last year compared to 17.5. If that’s not improving, what is? It’s just a weird thing sometimes that, I don’t know how much we are really watching the game of basketball, or are we just in the narration mode? The narrative.” via CBS"
Graham certainly deserved to be a finalist for the MIP award, and it’s a good thing that he’s beginning to get his peers’ attention with his play. If he can keep playing at a high level, there’s no reason why he can’t make an all-star appearance within the next few years.
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Graham is already a great Kansas basketball success story. He’s starting to make a name for himself in the league, and it’s exciting to think about where he’ll be in a few years especially if he keeps improving at this rate.