Leaky Black makes first career NBA start on Monday night

Odds are, every young athlete’s dream is to play their sport at the highest possible level.

Nowadays, you’ll see kids eating, sleeping and breathing sports. This means sacrificing time at home for travel sports, spending their rare free time watching collegiate players or the pros and – to further improve their skill sets, train with the best.

The young athlete I’m writing about in this story is Leaky Black, the former 5-year UNC basketball player who is now a member of the Charlotte Hornets.

Black originally signed a 2-way contract with Charlotte on July 19 last year, meaning he splits time with the Hornets and their G-League affiliate, the Greensboro Swarm.

He’s been playing with Charlotte regularly and – on Monday night, started an NBA game for the first time.

Black did a little bit of everything in the Hornets’ 125-119 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night – scoring two points, grabbing five rebounds and dishing out two assists in 16 minutes.

This move likely isn’t permanent, but was needed with Charlotte having three guards (LaMelo Ball, Cody Martin, Frank Ntilikina) listed on the injury report.

Having a versatile guard-forward like Black to count on, though, will certainly benefit a young, struggling Hornets team in the immediate future.

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Story originally appeared on Tarheels Wire