‘I want to be here’: Bouknight is headed for a big offseason. Will he stick with Hornets?

If linear graphs were used to chart James Bouknight’s progress during his first two years as a professional, decoding a significant difference wouldn’t be easy.

But it doesn’t take a math whiz to figure out it has not been good enough for the Charlotte Hornets 2021 lottery pick. And he’ll be the first to admit his 2022-23 campaign had far too many peaks and valleys.

“I would just say my season was kind of like my rookie year — it was up and down, and I learned a lot,” Bouknight said. “I took the good stuff at the end of the year, put some good performances together to go into the summer with some momentum.”

He needs the positivity as much as anybody given the roller coaster he has been on.

After a rough introduction to the league, Bouknight was supposed to take a leap forward in his second season and vault himself into the Hornets’ backcourt picture. It never transpired, though, and he shuffled back and forth between Charlotte and Greensboro, suiting up in nearly as many games for Swarm (24) in the G League as he did with the Hornets (32) during the bulk of the past six months.

Bouknight struggled mightily early in the season when he was part of coach Steve Clifford’s rotation while LaMelo Ball and others in the Hornets’ backcourt rehabbed from injuries. He shot 28% during the initial eight games and cracked double digits on just four occasions in their first 17 matchups.

He also went scoreless four times during that stretch and didn’t seem very confident, which could probably be attributed to the serious situation he put himself in mere days before the Oct. 19 season opener. His ineffectiveness was a key factor in Bouknight never completely elbowing his way into the mix again, and in turn provided a valuable lesson for the 22-year-old native New Yorker.

“I think the biggest thing I learned is how your mental affects how you play on the court,” Bouknight said. “I didn’t really have to experience that earlier in my life at my younger ages, but when I got here that’s something I had to learn and just learn how to manage.”

He insists those difficult patches back in the fall have spurred internal growth.

“Oh yeah, it helped me mature an immense amount,” Bouknight said. “Just continuing to work on those things, I think in the long run it will help me. Just something that I’ve been through and I’ve learned how to overcome.”

With plenty of roster decisions forthcoming for a franchise that has the league’s longest playoff drought, it’s going to be interesting to see how the Hornets view Bouknight fitting in moving forward. Do they try to move him in a trade? If there’s no well-defined, carved-out role planned next season, then he could be expendable if they find the right package.

Bouknight’s preference is to stay put.

“I want to be here,” he said. “I want to be in the backcourt with Melo, I want to be playing, you know? I think the fans know that, I think you know that and I think the people here know that. And I think with me, it comes down to just the work. Living in the gym and having another great offseason.”

Doing that could increase his odds of hanging around. Being entrenched alongside Ball is his dream. The two are good friends.

“Oh yeah, that’s my guy,” Bouknight said. “We’ve got a chance to play together a couple of times and I think our talents, they really complement each other very well, and I think that we can be a very scary duo. And especially our team. We have a great team. We didn’t have the success we wanted. I think this is a good team — a great team, actually.”

At least over these next few months as he preps for 2023-24, Bouknight will have use of both hands unlike a year ago when he spent a good portion of the summer recovering from surgery on his shooting hand, forcing him to sit out the Las Vegas Summer League and miss much-needed development time. As he heads into an extremely important span preceding Year 3, he’s hoping the vibes generated from his last few appearances can provide the impetus for more success.

He tossed in a season-best 22 points, which included a career-high-tying six 3-pointers, in the Hornets’ March 31 victory over Chicago and then put up 21 points against Toronto two days later — marking the lone time he’s posted at least 20 points in consecutive outings.

Those performances came on the heels of Bouknight pouring in 44 points and nailing 11 3-pointers in a Swarm uniform on March 18. He plans on remembering those efforts, leaning on them to push himself so there’s a much different outcome when he reflects on things again next April.

“Playing time is not going to be given to us, so we’ve just got to fight for that spot, fight for that opportunity and work for it,” Bouknight said. “I think my summer is going to be indicative of what I can do next season. Just the type of player I am this summer and how determined I want to get better is going to determine the type of season I have.”