Christian Anderson Jr. Sends Clear Message After Hornets Preseason Debut

Christian Anderson Jr. sat out the Charlotte Hornets' first two preseason games with a sprained ankle. On Wednesday night at TD Garden, Anderson played for the first time and finished with 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting, 2 steals, and a pair of 3-pointers in a 114-93 loss to the Boston Celtics.

Practice and film sessions filled the time he missed.

"I think just preparing, practice, trying to practice how we're going to play," Anderson said. "I think that helped me just come on the court and kind of be ready. But also, my teammates, coaches keeping me ready, watching film, and my teammates making it as easy as possible for me to kind of just fit into the game plan seamlessly. So I think that for sure."

Charlotte took Anderson, then 20, with the 18th overall pick on June 23. Hannes Steinbach had gone to the Hornets four picks earlier.

At Texas Tech last season, Anderson started all 33 games and played 38.4 minutes a night. He averaged 18.5 points and 7.4 assists. Nobody in the Big 12 handed out more.

His 244 total assists set a school record for a single season. Nationally, his assist average ranked fifth.

He took 7.9 3-pointers a game as a sophomore and made 41.5% of them, while shooting 47.2% overall. In a road win at Baylor, he went 8-of-10 from deep for a career-high eight 3-pointers and scored 26 points.

The Big 12 put him on its first team and named him its Most Improved Player. He was a third-team All-American, too.

Anderson started seven of his 35 games as a freshman in 2024-25 and averaged 10.6 points on a Red Raiders team that reached the Elite Eight. This past March, Texas Tech went out in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

He left Lubbock with 983 points in 68 games. He is the fourth first-round pick in program history and the highest Texas Tech selection since 2018.

Charlotte played Wednesday without guards Coby White (calf) and Grayson Allen (knee). Anderson wants to compete every second he is on the floor.

"Just to be a guy who contributes offensively or defensively, trying to play hard every single second of the game, and try to make an impact, make it as hard as we can for the other team," Anderson explained.

He averaged 1.5 steals as a sophomore, and Wednesday he had 2 in his first game back.

Communication is part of the job he sees for himself. Charlotte committed 30 turnovers, and Boston finished with 16 steals.

"Pressuring the ball, being disruptive on defense, not trying to give guys easy looks, communicating, and also just somebody who can be trusted with the ball, make plays," Anderson said.

An Atlanta native, Anderson played high school basketball at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia. His father, Christian Sr., spent 10 years playing professionally overseas.

Anderson and Steinbach were teammates before the draft, too. Playing for Germany, the two won gold at the 2024 Under-18 EuroBasket and finished second at the 2025 FIBA U19 World Cup.

The Hornets finish the preseason Friday at Memphis, where tip-off is set for 8 p.m. ET, and open the regular season Oct. 21 at Brooklyn.