It was in the late hours of Wednesday, Feb. 8 when then-New York Knick guard Svi Mykhailiuk received word from his agent that he had been traded to the Portland Trail Blazers. Shortly thereafter, Mykhailiuk left his Philadelphia hotel room, hopped in a car and drove two hours north back to New York City to pack his bags for the West Coast.
The next day, only an hour or two before the trade deadline, Mykhailiuk’s travel plans changed – he was now heading to Charlotte, with the original deal having been expanded to include two other teams. The final destination locked in, Mykhailiuk arrived to the Queen City early on Saturday, Feb. 11, only a few hours after the Hornets returned from their road game in Boston.
“When you get traded a couple times, you know how it goes, so you don’t stress as much,” said Mykhailiuk, who was also moved at the 2019 trade deadline from the Los Angeles Lakers to Detroit and again in 2021 from Detroit to Oklahoma City. “It’s from the business side, so it is what it is. So, I’m here. I’m just going to try to get to know everybody and go from there.”
The journey from New York to Charlotte isn’t nearly as vast as the one Mykhailiuk made from his native Ukraine to the University of Kansas to play college basketball. Having already played two professional seasons with Cherkaski Mavpy in the Ukrainian Basketball SuperLeague, Mykhailiuk was only 16 years old when he arrived in Lawrence in the summer of 2014 as part of a recruiting class that included former-Hornet Devonte’ Graham and current-Hornet Kelly Oubre Jr.
“When I met him at Kansas, we were both freshmen,” said Oubre. “He came from the Ukraine, so the first day on campus was the first day I met him. From then, he’s been a real smooth, easy-going, cool guy, but he’s a dog on the basketball court. That’s a lot like myself. Off the court, I’m myself, but on the court, I bring a different element. It’s a great mix of human being.”
While Oubre declared for the NBA Draft the following year, Mykhailiuk played another three seasons for the Jayhawks. In total, Mykhailiuk’s college resume included four Big 12 Regular Season Championships, two Big 12 Tournament Championships and a 2018 Final Four berth. He went on to become the 47th overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft by the Lakers, before spending time in Detroit, Oklahoma City, Toronto and then most recently New York.
One of two active Ukrainian-born NBA players – the other being Sacramento center Alex Len – Mykhailiuk has made several appearances for the National Team. Most recently, he averaged a team-high 17.0 points and a tournament-high 2.2 steals for Ukraine at last September’s 2022 EuroBasket, while helping lead the team to its second-highest finish ever at the competition (12th).
Mykhailiuk’s best NBA season came while playing for the Pistons in 2018-19, when he averaged 9.0 points on 41.0% shooting, 2.1 3-pointers on 40.4% shooting and 1.9 assists in 56 appearances, 27 of which were starts. His Hornets’ debut came in last Wednesday’s 120-110 home win over San Antonio, in which Mykhailiuk totaled a season-high 12 points on 5-of-12 shooting, a pair of 3-pointers and two rebounds across 25 minutes off the bench.
“Because of his size (6’7”), I’d say he’s probably more of a two-guard,” said Hornets Head Coach Steve Clifford, when asked about Mykhailiuk prior to this Feb. 15 game. “Very good shooter. The big thing I’ve noticed here, and I knew this from talking to guys who’ve coached him, he’s very bright, good worker. He’s played on different teams, so he picks things up quickly.”
Carving out a role with a new team is never easy and becomes even more challenging in the middle of the season. For Mykhailiuk, it helps that he already has a background with Oubre and played with both Dennis Smith Jr. in Detroit and Théo Maledon in Oklahoma City.
“Just help him, talk to him,” said Oubre, when asked about the process of welcoming a new teammate. “Make his learning curve a little easier, so he’s not having to retain or pick up too much information at one time and get overstimulated. Help him with the details, the terminology, tell him what coach likes and doesn’t like just to give him a gameplan on how to operate while he’s here. Our system isn’t militant or anything like that. We do these things and we do get better, so we show him the results instead of more so just telling him what to do.”
Mykhailiuk obviously hasn’t been in Charlotte for all that long and where exactly he slides into the rotational pecking order might be somewhat fluid over the season’s final month-and-a-half of play. And even with just one appearance in the purple and teal under his belt, Mykhailiuk already has a jump start on making the most of his new opportunity.
