Montgomery County native and New Orleans Pelicans rookie Jordan Hawkins, making a start in place of CJ McCollum, scored a career-high 31 points on Monday night in a 116-134 loss to the defending World Champion Denver Nuggets. Hawkins’ coach Willie Green referred to him as fearless, saying, “When he’s open he’s going to shoot it. He’s aggressive and the beauty of it is Brandon, Z, all of his teammates are looking for him.”
The young man from Gaithersburg was drafted 14th overall by the New Orleans Pelicans in the 2023 NBA Draft. He is averaging 12.6 and 4.7 rebounds per game coming off of the bench, but earning significant minutes, for the Pelicans this year. Including the seven he hit on Monday night, Hawkins has made 20 three pointers in seven games this season. He has made 11 in his last two, showing that he is the outside-shooter he was drafted to be in the NBA.
Hawkins is a Montgomery County native who attended Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Germantown and Gaithersburg High School for his freshman and sophomore years before transferring to DeMatha. Last year he led UCONN to a national championship.
Jordan Hawkins is on FIRE 🔥
The No. 14 pick has a career-high 29 PTS, 7 3PM in Denver!
Watch DEN/NOP LIVE on the NBA App: https://t.co/1wqRX7Uwkw pic.twitter.com/C8K2lMUKJa
— NBA (@NBA) November 7, 2023