Three Alabama alumni have NBA career scoring averages of more than 14 points per game. Two of them are about to be teammates on the Charlotte Hornets.
The Salt Lake City Tribune, Charlotte Observer and ESPN reported on Sunday that Charlotte and Utah have agreed to a trade that would move center Jusuf Nurkic from the Hornets to the Jazz in exchange for guard Collin Sexton and a 2031 second-round draft pick. The trade cannot be completed until July 6, when the NBA’s free-agent moratorium period ends.
In seven seasons since entering the NBA from Alabama as the eighth pick in the 2018 draft, Sexton has averaged 18.8 points in 407 regular-season games, the highest for a Crimson Tide alumnus in league history. The Hornets already have forward Brandon Miller, who has averaged 18.3 points per game since joining Charlotte from the Crimson Tide as the No. 2 choice in the 2023 NBA Draft.
In his third season with the Jazz, Sexton averaged 18.4 points, 2.7 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 63 games, including 61 starts. Sexton’s 1,159 points led Utah in the 2024-25 season even though he missed 19 games.
In his 11th NBA season, Nurkic played in 25 games for the Phoenix Suns and 26 for Charlotte. The 7-foot-0 “Bosnian Beast” averaged 8.9 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game in the 2024-25 season.
Sexton joins a Charlotte lineup that might have Miller as its starting shooting guard, Sexton’s best position. The Hornets’ starting lineup might depend on how Charlotte handles Kon Knueppel, the No. 4 pick in the NBA Draft on Wednesday night. The rookie from Duke could be in the lineup with Miller as a shooting guard/small forward interchangeable combo or saved for a sharpshooting, instant-offense option off the bench, which could put Sexton in the starting backcourt with point guard LaMelo Ball.
