Former West Virginia star and Memphis Grizzlies’ second-round draft pick Jevon Carter makes an impact in NBA debut

Memphis Grizzlies second round draft pick Jevon Carter has spent the largest part of the first two months of the NBA season driving a 17.5 mile stretch of road between the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee and the Landers Center in Southaven, Mississippi, home of the Grizzlies’ G-League affiliate Memphis Hustle, waiting for his shot on the grandest stage.

Carter was assigned to the Hustle at the beginning of the season, where he has averaged 18.6 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds and 3 steals over 12 games. Jevon did all of this while continually being recalled to practice with his Grizzlies teammates and then reassigned back to the Hustle following the shootarounds.

The Grizzlies recalled Carter on December 8th, but held him out of contests against the Portland Trailblazers and Miami Heat this past week due to right knee soreness.

On Saturday, Carter got the shot he’d been waiting patiently for.

Jevon checked into the game midway through the second quarter with the Grizzlies down 43-33 to the Houston Rockets to a thunderous reaction from the Memphis fans, but it wasn’t until the fourth quarter that Carter really got things going. Carter picked the pocket of 2018 NBA MVP James Harden early in the quarter and scored on a fast break layup for his sixth point of the game. Moments later, Jevon threw down a dunk that got the Memphis faithful back on their feet.

Carter finished the game with 11 points of 5-of-9 shooting and 2 steals in 22 minutes.

The Grizzlies went on to lose 105-97, but Carter’s performance should give the Memphis front office reason enough to keep him activated rather than sending him back down to the Hustle for long periods of time.