It didn’t take long for Christian Anderson Jr. to prove that he belongs on an NBA floor.
Just over a minute into his preseason debut, one that was delayed due to an ankle injury suffered in training camp, the rookie reminded Hornets fans why the franchise used the 18th overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft on the undersized sharpshooter from Texas Tech.
The baseline jumper he made to open his account was the distilled essence of Anderson Jr.’s game. He received a screen from Moussa Diabate on the right wing, dribbled three times to a spot on the floor he is intimately familiar with, raised up, and canned the first basket of his NBA career.
“We practice that shot all the time during practice and individual workouts, and we were practicing that shot at shootaround…There was a lot of preparation that went into it,” said Anderson in a one-on-one conversation with Charlotte Hornets On SI.
Any nervous energy Anderson had for his first appearance in Hornets threads washed away when the ball softly kissed off of the front rim and fell through the hoop. “It was all I could ask for. It was a great moment for me…Being prepared for the shots I was going to take and being able to knock down my first one was pretty cool.”
Draft analysts that studied Anderson’s game at Texas Tech often highlighted a pair of traits that were on full display in this singular moment: his comfortability with operating ball screens, and his silky jump shot; two skills that are woven into his DNA.
Basketball in the Anderson family’s blood. The patriarch, Christian Anderson Sr., was a professional basketball player in Germany, and he had his sons (Lucai Anderson, Christian’s brother, is committed to play basketball at the University of Michigan in 2027) hooping before they even knew what a pick-and-roll was.
“I’ve always been a great shooter,” said Anderson Jr. after I asked him when he first got the green light to bomb away from three-point range. “My dad worked on my shot really early and I was really shooting the ball well by probably third grade…I was always trying to work out with pros and compare my shooting capabilities to them.”
“I’ve felt like I’ve always kind of had it, but like I said, there’s a bunch of time and effort that went into crafting my jump shot and getting it into the best possible shape that it could be in.”
Christian Anderson Jr. isn’t short on confidence. He wouldn’t have gotten this far without it. I asked him to name the top three shooters on the team, and after he humbly offered to craft a list without himself in it, I prodded him to include his name where he sees fit.
“I’m always going to take myself at one. But if I didn’t include myself, I would put in no specific order: Kon (Knueppel), Royce (O’Neale), and Grayson (Allen).
He’s not wrong to put himself near the top. Anderson Jr. was one of the NCAA’s best three-point shooters last season, converting on a blistering 41.5% of his long-range attempts in his sophomore year at Texas Tech on major volume.
His ability to pull-up from long range out of a ball screen is the skill that opposing teams have to scheme around the most, and Anderson explained where his eyes go when he puts the ball on the floor coming off of a screen.
“Coming off the screen I think the most important thing is to be aggressive and read where your defender is, where the screener’s defender is, and just go off of that. If (the shot) isn’t open, you’ve got to read the help side, the low tag, all of that stuff…But like I said, I just try to be aggressive and get to my spot.”
Just like his shooting ability, Anderson Jr.’s craft as a ball handler was nurtured by his father, along with countless hours studying two All-NBA point guards that he grew up watching. “(My dad) grew up teaching me how to play pick-and-roll and be in that situation, and I watched guys like Trae Young and Chris Paul, who was one of my favorite players growing up…Watching it and playing it all of my life growing up, (playing out of ball screens) has become second nature to me.”
The summer has been a whirlwind for Anderson Jr., and how could it not be when you consider the gauntlet that consists of draft workouts, the NBA Combine, draft night, Summer League, and all that comes with uprooting your life to move across the country?
“It’s been a little bit hectic. Just going from place to place, not really staying in one spot, being in a bunch of hotels, flying to a bunch of workouts and being uncertain of what your future is. I felt like it was all kind of nerve-wracking but it was fun at the same time.”
Thankfully for the rookie point guard, he feels right at home in Charlotte, and people around the organization have welcomed him into the city with open arms.
“Being able to get drafted and come to a place close to home (Anderson Jr. grew up in Atlanta), a great city, I felt like it was a breath of fresh air. I’m super excited to call this place home, settle down, and get on with the season.”
“(The coaching staff) has been super genuine. You can tell they just care about who you are as a person and they want you to succeed on the court. And they’re going to keep it 100% real with you all of the time. I have nothing but good things to say about them.”
Charlotte made a clear emphasis on acquiring veteran players this summer, which has been a boon for young players like Christian. He couldn’t single out a single veteran who has made an impact on his first training camp as a professional, but he was complimentary about the team’s locker room as a whole.
“I think all of the vets on our team do a real good job at setting the standard, communicating, and showing the young guys the ropes. It would be unfair to pick one, but I feel like everyone has taught me so much. Especially when I was hurt, just telling me to keep being ready, keep watching practice very closely, just so I can be as ready as I can when I finally get on the floor.”
Anderson Jr. has been lauded for his offensive exploits since he burst onto the scene as a freshman sharpshooter in Lubbock, Texas, but he knows that being impactful on the defensive side of the ball will keep him on the floor in the NBA.
“I think the main thing is just to be as physically ready and as impactful as I can on the defensive end. Trying to generate steals, generate as much disruption as I can on the floor...I think the main thing for me is to kind of take that step defensively and be reliable on that end of the floor.”
He’s not going to neglect further development on the offensive end, though.
“Offensively I’ll just keep working on reads, being able to space the floor, being able to play make, all of that stuff.”
All of that stuff is what Charlotte brought him in to do, and they may need him to fulfill his promise as a ball handler as soon as tonight when the Hornets open their regular season campaign against the Brooklyn Nets. With Coby White on the shelf with a calf injury, the Hornets are light on ball handlers, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see Charles Lee look down his bench and call Anderson Jr.’s name early on to inject some life into Charlotte’s halfcourt offense.
That moment, the first time he gets called into a meaningful NBA game, is the one that Christian Anderson Jr. has been training his whole life for. And if his past performances are at all indicative of future success, you can be sure that he will be ready to seize the opportunity in front of him if and when it comes.
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