Former Jayhawk Devonte’ Graham still living and dying with Kansas basketball

By Matt Tait     Mar 4, 2019

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A host of former Jayhawk players come together for a photo after being introduced at half court during halftime, Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019 at Allen Fieldhouse.

For four years, former Kansas point guard Devonte’ Graham found himself in the heat of just about every Jayhawk battle, often playing a big role in whether Kansas won or lost a game.

Today, with Graham in his rookie season with the Charlotte Hornets, the Jayhawk legend finds himself in the tough position of having to watch whatever KU games he can watch happen from hundreds of miles away on the television screen in his new apartment instead of being able to control and dictate what goes down.

Evidently, that has been tough on the former KU point guard, who was back in town a couple of weekends ago and smiled and celebrated with the KU faithful like he never left. The new perspective also appears to have given him a new appreciation for what he and his teammates occasionally put thousands of KU fans through during his time in Lawrence.

Although his squads did not make a habit of playing nail-biters and grinders quite like this year’s team has, the native of Raleigh, N.C., and longtime KU fan favorite took to Twitter over the weekend to make sure the Jayhawk fan base understood that he now can feel their pain.

If there’s one thing Graham was known for during his time as a Jayhawk it was his high-energy, infectious positive personality.

Always smiling, always with time to shake a hand or sign an autograph and never one to let the little things undercut his positive vibes about his enormous blessings, Graham became one of the most beloved KU players in recent memory both because of the way he played, the way he engaged with the fans and, of course, the fact that he helped lead Kansas back to the Final Four last season.

But just because his time in a KU uniform is up does not mean that the former Jayhawk who left the program 13th all-time on KU’s scoring list (1,750 points) and 2nd on the all-time KU 3-point shooting chart (298 career triples) does not mean he’s done putting his heart and soul into KU games.

Look no further than his recent Instagram story, where Graham took you through the emotions of what it’s like to watch your alma mater as a former program legend during Saturday’s narrow victory in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

https://twitter.com/PrisonMitch/status/1101929036824150021

Still smiling. Still trying to have an impact on the game. Still loving his university and everything associated with it. Still the same old Devonte’.

Here’s a quick look at some recent highlights of Graham’s from his time in the G League with the Greensboro Swarm.

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.