UConn’s Jordan Hawkins taken with No. 14 overall pick by New Orleans Pelicans in NBA Draft
BROOKLYN – Former UConn guard Jordan Hawkins was selected No. 14 overall by the New Orleans Pelicans in Thursday’s NBA Draft.
Around his table, in the center of the Barclays Center floor directly in front of Commissioner Adam Silver’s podium, sat UConn head coach Dan Hurley and associate Kimani Young, as well as his high school coach Mike Jones and family members, including his father, Craig, his mother, Jasmine and his three sisters. Hawkins, often emotionless, said before the draft that he wouldn’t cry when he was picked. “I wimped out,” he said.
The first thing he heard from Hurley after hearing his name called was “I love you.”
“I love that guy to death,” Hawkins said. “Without him, none of this is possible. He helped me so much through my career, the two years I was with him. I’m really grateful for him.”
Hawkins is the program’s 21st first-round selection and will be the 15th player added to UConn’s lottery wall in the Werth practice facility.
“They’re going to have to see my face every single day,” he said. “That’s going to be lovely.”
From Gaithersburg, Md., Hawkins entered the draft after starring during UConn’s NCAA Tournament run, when he made 21 of his 42 attempts (50%) from 3-point range and averaged 16.3 points per the Huskies’ six tournament games. That tournament run capped off a breakout sophomore season in which Hawkins averaged 16.2 points (a nearly 11-point increase from his freshman year), 3.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game while shooting 38.8% from the 3-point line, a 5.5% increase from 2021-22.
“I don’t drink, but I think I’m gonna have me a little glass of wine tonight,” Craig Hawkins, Jordan’s father, told The Courant. “It’s beautiful, watching my son live my dream, come on. Unbelievable. A feeling that you can’t even explain. It’s like – honestly it hasn’t even really hit me yet, you know what I’m saying? I honestly prepared us for this situation, but now it’s like – it’s so real. It’s like really here.”
UConn fans might remember moments when the “Hawk” was soaring – like when he exploded for 26 points second half points and almost single-handedly brought the Huskies back from a 15-point halftime deficit to Xavier at Gampel Pavilion.
In the first round, after struggling to score in the first half against Iona, Hawkins announced his arrival with a four-point play and added another pair of buckets from deep to put the game away. He made six 3-pointers to help the Huskies sprint past Gonzaga in the Elite Eight, and most importantly, he hit a massive 3 to spark a 9-0 run that helped put away San Diego State in the championship game.
As the Hawkins family sat at the table on the draft floor, watching pick after pick, they started getting antsy.
“Because you’re worried, you’re looking at your child, you see the stress on his face, you just don’t know because nobody gives you a hint to anything, so you’re just sitting there waiting,” Craig said.
Hawkins spent two days visiting New Orleans – he enjoyed the food – but had “no idea” where he was going to be selected Thursday night. His cousin, Angel Reese, will be relatively close by in Baton Rouge as she looks to defend her national championship at LSU.
“A couple of the teams passed up on me that I worked out for, but (New Orleans) took the chance on me,” he said. “(New Orleans is) going to get the best shooter in the draft, championship player, a guy that can space the floor out for Zion and BI (Brandon Ingram).
“I’m probably going to gain a couple of pounds because of the food. So that will be a good thing.”
