The NBA announced on Saturday that the three finalists for its Most Improved Player award are Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo, New Orleans Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram and Dallas Mavericks forward Luka Doncic.
One of the biggest snubs from the list was Charlotte Hornets guard Devonte’ Graham.
Heat legend Dwayne Wade took to Instagram to show his confusion about Graham’s omission.
This season, Graham showed tremendous improvement from last season, which was his rookie year.
During the 2018-19 season, Graham averaged 4.7 points, 1.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game while shooting 28.1 percent from three.
The 25-year-old upped those numbers to 18.2 points, 3.4 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game while shooting 37.3 percent from three this season.
Doncic himself mentioned that he thought he shouldn’t be on the list, and that Graham should take his place.
Luka to me on MIP voting: “Who votes in this?”
Me: “Well, 100 of us, including me.”@luka7doncic: “Take me off the list and put @Devonte4Graham on there. I don’t deserve to be on there.”
— Brad Townsend (@townbrad) August 9, 2020
Graham later responded to Doncic.
Respect ✊🏾 https://t.co/LfzcWI8HJb
— Devonte Graham (@Devonte4Graham) August 9, 2020
This snub could potentially be motivation for Graham to improve even more for next season, where he will hope to lead the Hornets back to the playoffs, somewhere the Hornets haven’t appeared since the 2015-16 season.
