Hornets Player Grades: Dāvis Bertāns

The Charlotte Hornets were one of the worst offensive teams in the association last season, part of which can be attributed to the laundry list of injuries they had to deal with. But even when somewhat healthy, the Hornets didn't shoot the three ball with consistency and made that a bit of a priority at the trade deadline when receiving veteran Dāvis Bertāns in the trade package from Oklahoma City. Although it took him a few games to get going, Bertāns settled into his role off the bench and helped the team's overall shooting percentage down the stretch.

Glass Half Full

You can never have enough shooters on your roster and Bertāns is as good as they come. He hits tough shot after tough shot and can be a spark plug off the bench if the starting unit's offense dries up. In his nine-year NBA career, Bertāns has shot 39.6% from three which is even more impressive considering a high volume of his shot attempts come from deep.

Glass Half Empty

As great of a shot-maker Bertāns is, he doesn't really offer much else. He's a below-average defender, he's not going to drive the ball to the rim, and he doesn't move the ball that much averaging under one assist per game for his career. With guys like LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, Miles Bridges, and Mark Williams, the ball needs to move and you need to play at an uptempo pace with that much athleticism on the floor. There are other sharpshooters out there who can offer more on both ends of the floor and could be what leads to Charlotte including Bertāns in a trade at some point this summer.

Best Moment of the Season

Bertāns was feeling it late in a March 31st game against the Clippers, hitting three tough shots from downtown, notching a total of 15 points on the night. He hit a season-high five triples in this one.

Davis Bertans catched fire in the 2nd half and scored 15 PTS against the Los Angeles Clippers! 📈 pic.twitter.com/QTjM0AYFul
— BSA BASKETBALL (@BSAagency) April 1, 2024

Worst Moment of the Season

Bertāns didn't really have any terrible outings. Sure, he had a few off nights shooting the ball, but for me, his worst moment of the season was when he was sort of pushed off to the side when attempting to reunite with his former Thunder teammates. Sorry, Dāvis.

OKC wanted nothing to do with former teammate Davis Bertans 😭pic.twitter.com/BwYZ5U2L3T
— Bones🦴 (@Boness305) April 8, 2024

Overall Grade - C+

Bertāns is a one-trick pony, but he does his job exceptionally well. Maybe this is a team-specific grade, so it may be a bit unfair but a team like the Hornets need more versatility from guys off the bench. On a contender, he's probably a solid B.