NBA DRAFT

July 29, 2021

James Bouknight

Q. How excited are you to play with LaMelo Ball in Charlotte?

JAMES BOUKNIGHT: I'm super excited. I think we're both young players that play with a lot of flare, have a lot of swag in our game and it's going to be exciting to watch.

Q. What were your emotions like during the course of the evening? Was it a roller coaster for you or did you kind of anticipate where you were going to be picked, what were the emotions like for you as things played out?

JAMES BOUKNIGHT: I say it was up and down. I felt like I started to slip a little bit, but I feel like I kept my composure. I know that on draft night anything can happen, and I was just waiting for my name to be called and when it was called all the sadness I guess you could say went away and it was just a big joy.

Q. Charlotte is one of the more exciting teams in the league with LaMelo Ball running the wings, and one of the things Mitch Kupchak had mentioned is the fact that he said that they didn't expect you to be on the board at 11. They had you ranked much higher. What are some of the things that Hornets fans should expect from you and is that a compliment when a general manager says we didn't think we were going to get you at 11, we thought you were going to go much higher?

JAMES BOUKNIGHT: Oh, yeah, man, so Charlotte was my first workout. I went into that workout and I was ready. It was definitely easily my best workout. I think it for sure is a compliment that he thought I wasn’t going to fall, but since I was here and he picked me, that's big time and I'm excited to be here.

Q. You mentioned about being sad about dropping in the draft, but is that an extra chip on your shoulder and something to prove inside the NBA?

JAMES BOUKNIGHT: Oh, a hundred percent. The whole time, every pick, pick after pick I was just sitting there in my head like, okay, I got a chip on my shoulder again, they sleep, you know what I'm saying? So, it's nothing different. My whole life I've been slept on and Charlotte took the chance and I'm not going to let them down.

Q. You're heading into Charlotte with a team full of a lot of young, electric talent. You've got Miles Bridges, LaMelo Ball. How do you look to add your talent to this team for your rookie season and what are your expectations for the first year?

JAMES BOUKNIGHT: Oh, man, I have high expectations for myself. I never try to sell myself short. I think we're going to be one of the better young teams in the league. We're going to be a team that's fun to watch, super athletic on the wings. Like I said before, just playing with a lot of flare, a lot of excitement. We're going to be box office.

Q. Was it tough -- obviously Coach [Danny] Hurley and Coach Kimani [Young] couldn't be here today. Was that tough, and what did they kind of say to you early in the day maybe or what kind of advice did they give you or support did they give you earlier today?

JAMES BOUKNIGHT: Oh, yeah, it was definitely tough. I found out what happened at the same time everybody else found out what happened, and I was actually talking to Kimani on the phone in the Green Room. He was just -- they were just telling me how proud they are of me, nothing less, nothing more. Just how proud they are and to keep making UConn proud.

Q. I was wondering what your day was like being obviously back home in Brooklyn and what this night being in Brooklyn, did that add anything to you, make it more special at all?

JAMES BOUKNIGHT: Oh, yeah, this is definitely a legendary moment. Like I said it before, I'm going to keep on saying it, not many people can say that they're from Brooklyn and they got drafted in Brooklyn, in the Lottery at that. So, this moment for me is definitely a legendary one.