Hornets summer league grades: KJ Simpson – At The Hive

KJ Simpson spent all of last season on a two-way contract with the Charlotte Hornets after being selected in the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft. While he struggled with his shot more often that not, he generally played a solid style of basketball. Like a lot of rising sophomores who didn’t establish themselves as rookies, Simpson made his way to Las Vegas to commandeer the summer Hornets.

We know Simpson can play a good floor game. He proved that at the NBA level last season. He reinforced that with strong command of the Hornets offense, especially in the early parts of the summer league while a lot of the guys found their footing. He averaged 5.7 assists per game, which isn’t jaw dropping, but it’s very solid for the way the Hornets run their offense. He averaged nearly five rebounds per game as well. He’s always going to be limited defensively by his size, but I thought he did a good job using his strength to battle and staying in front of his man to prevent blow-bys and contest shots.

The main thing I wanted to see, and I’m sure the coaching staff would agree, is whether or not Simpson could show improved shot making from the perimeter. Unfortunately, he didn’t do that. After going 4-of-9 from deep in the opener, he converted just 25% of his threes the rest of the way. That includes going 1-of-10 in the last two games. He did make up for that by being impressively efficient inside the arc despite his size by using his body and angles to make some super impressive shots at the rim. Still, the 3-point shooting is going to be important.

Simpson didn’t impress in the area that I most wanted to see him improve at. However, his all around play was really good given the setting, and he even made the All-Las Vegas Second Team, so he does get a lot of credit for that.

Final Grade: B+