Noah Vonleh is back playing in Indiana.
The former Hoosier and current Charlotte Hornets rookie forward was assigned to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA D-League on Sunday . He made his D-League debut wearing No. 23 in a 106-93 loss to the Austin Spurs in Fort Wayne.
Vonleh scored 12 fourth-quarter points off of a 5-for-7 shooting performance in limited action with the Mad Ants.
He picked up his first two points on a dunk on a designed post-up play. He followed that dunk up with the first of his two 3-pointers. He also scored on a put-back and a runner across the lane.
Vonleh, 19, left IU after his freshman season and was the ninth overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft. He appeared in four games with the Hornets this season and averaged 2.5 points and 2.8 rebounds in 8 minutes per game.
He had his rookie season slowed by a sports hernia surgery in September. The injury kept him out of training camp, which didn’t allow for the 6-foot-10 rookie time to climb the depth chart.
“We believe Noah would benefit greatly from additional game experience,” Hornets General Manger Rich Cho said in a team statement. “He will be able to get that playing time through this D-League assignment.”
Vonleh impressed NBA scouts with his ability to rebound and shoot from the outside in Bloomington, but that hasn’t transitioned to the NBA as the Hornets would have liked. He shot just 28.4 percent from the floor at the Las Vegas Summer League this past summer while only shooting 12.5 percent from 3-point range.
Vonleh agreed to a 2-year, $5.16 million guaranteed contract with the Hornets.
The Mad Ants will be back in action Tuesday against Oklahoma City in Fort Wayne at 7 p.m. The game will be shown live on the NBA D-League’s YouTube channel.
Sam Beishuizen
