Hornets Draft Bouknight & Lewis; Trade For Jones & Thor In 2021 NBA Draft

The Charlotte Hornets announced that the team has selected James Bouknight (No. 11 overall) and Scottie Lewis (No. 56) in the 2021 NBA Draft. Additionally, the Hornets completed trades to acquire the draft rights to Kai Jones (No. 19) and JT Thor (No. 37).

A 6-5 guard out of Connecticut, Bouknight averaged 18.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 31.7 minutes per game in 15 games during the 2020-21 season. For his performance last season, Bouknight was named to the All-BIG EAST First Team as well as NABC District I Player of the Year.

Over his two seasons with the Huskies, Bouknight made 43 appearances and averaged 15.0 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 27.9 minutes per game. During his freshman season, Bouknight also earned All-Conference Third Team honors and was unanimous selected to the conference’s All-Freshman Team.

A sophomore out of Florida, Lewis accrued averages of 7.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 25.5 minutes per game in 21 games during the 2020-21 season. In his two seasons with the Gators, Lewis averaged 8.2 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.3 steals in 27.6 minutes per contest, making 51 career appearances.

A 2019-20 SEC All-Freshman Team selection, Lewis earned McDonald’s All-American honors after his senior season at Ranney School. The Hazlet, New Jersey native was also a member of the USA Basketball team at the Nike Hoop Summit.

Selected with the 19th overall pick out of Texas in tonight’s draft by the New York Knicks, Jones averaged 8.8 points and 4.8 rebounds in 22.9 minutes per game, appearing in 26 games during the 2020-21 season. During his sophomore season, Jones went on to be named Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year and was an All-Big 12 honorable mention after he averaged 8.3 points and 4.9 rebounds in 23.4 minutes per game in 16 conference games.

A native of the Bahamas, Jones averaged 6.2 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.0 blocks in 19.8 minutes per game in 53 career games over his two-year career with the Longhorns. Born in Nassau, Jones is the fifth Bahamian player to be selected in the NBA Draft.

In exchange for Jones' draft rights, the Hornets traded a protected first-round draft pick to the Knicks.

Thor, the 37th pick out of Auburn in tonight’s draft by the Detroit Pistons, averaged 9.4 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in minutes per game, making 27 appearances during his lone season with the Tigers. Thor recorded 37 blocks during the 2020-21 season, which ranked eighth in the SEC and second among all SEC freshmen as he averaged 9.9 points and 6.1 rebounds in 24.4 minutes per game in 18 conference games.

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, the 6-10 forward grew up in Anchorage, Alaska and attended Norcross High School in Georgia for his final high school season.

In exchange for Thor's draft rights, the Hornets traded the draft rights to Balsa Koprivica.