Charlotte Hornets rookie James Bouknight revealed this week that he received some pointers from team governor Michael Jordan after he struggled in the second game of the Las Vegas Summer League.
Bouknight kicked off his stint in summer league with a 19-point performance on Sunday. He shot 7-of-14 from the field in that contest and looked to be every bit of the player that was so highly touted for his scoring ability at UConn.
However, the 11th overall pick followed that up with an 11-point effort on 4-of-11 shooting from the field the next night. He also turned the ball over five times and was outplayed by several other players. He later said he just wasn’t himself in that contest.
Then, Jordan texted him and said to give him a call after that game.
“He basically critiqued my game, told me what he saw,” Bouknight said. “Not many 20-year-olds fresh in the league can say that the best player to ever touch a basketball is calling them to give them pointers. I took that to heart and I took it personal.”
[mm-video type=video id=01fc9gy6kez7nygwjpdq playlist_id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01f1jxkahtwnvzepyp image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01fc9gy6kez7nygwjpdq/01fc9gy6kez7nygwjpdq-f281abfc3a2bff6d4c53f6a5f8e47220.jpg]
Bouknight responded after that call by playing his best game of the week.
On Thursday, Bouknight registered 23 points, eight assists and four rebounds in a loss to the San Antonio Spurs. He shot 11-of-23 from the field and finished the contest with no turnovers. He also had the go-ahead layup with under 10 seconds left before Tre Jones won it for the Spurs.
The conversation with the Hall of Famer resonated with Bouknight.
“I don’t know how hands-on owners or presidents are in other organizations, but just to get a text from M.J. is… you know what I’m saying?” Bouknight said. “Someone who played my position, I’m happy he called me and I’m happy to have that type of relationship where we can get on the phone and talk about what he saw, how I felt, what I saw and apply that to the next game.”
This post originally appeared on Rookie Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
[lawrence-related id=36385,36323,29084]
[listicle id=36659]