It was a gritty, shocking win the Brooklyn Nets pulled out over the Charlotte Hornets on Monday, and it’s all thanks to Randy Foye.
His only bucket was the biggest one of the evening, and those three points that sealed the 120-118 upset over the Hornets were the only three he scored all night. However, Foye showed why veterans are a hot commodity.
After signing a one-year, $2.5 million deal with the Nets in July, Foye found himself in a consistently inconsistent role. He bounced from the end of the bench to the sixth man and had some injuries sprinkled in between. For the year, he’s averaging 16.2 minutes a night, which is be a career-low.
Not once has there been a complaint. Not once has Foye sounded like a disgruntled, tenured player who felt he was bigger than the team — the team that’s run by the young guys.
Instead, he remained ready. Before spending 20 minutes on the court against Charlotte, he had laced up for a bit longer than 23 minutes over the three games prior. Foye shot three shots, making one.
Kenny Atkinson didn’t go to Bojan Bogdanovic, who had a game-high 26 points.
Brook Lopez? Nope.
What about Sean Kilpatrick? Negative. Brooklyn’s go-to guy in the fourth found himself in the weakside corner.
Atkinson called on his veteran shooting guard. And it paid off.
There’s no chance he had any rhythm, but Foye took the shot anyway, rising above an off-balance Kemba Walker who closed out extremely hard to prevent the attempt.
Veterans get paid to make plays like this, in addition to their mentorship and leadership roles.
“Around Halloween every year you get a fresh start with the new season,” said Foye to Elite Sports NY back in October. “That’s how I look at it. I look at it as a huge opportunity and I’m excited about it.”
That excitement hasn’t wavered.
After drilling the game-winner, Foye threw his arms in the air and ran over to be the center of his teammates’ dog pile. The same guys who were overlooked on the final play were some of the first ones to crowd around their veteran leader.
