Players who struggled
Summer-league performance has some correlation to regular-season performance, but it’s a small sample in a contrived environment; failing in a first Vegas campaign is hardly a death sentence for a player’s career. I realize I’m deflating balloons of irrational fan enthusiasm for their rookies; even draft picks who were objectively awful in summer league have one fawning clip after another of their positive plays on social media.
Also, I’ll note again that we shouldn’t overindex on summer shooting percentages, either going too high or too low. I’ll use Boston’s Baylor Scheierman as an example: after a rough rookie year, he superficially didn’t have a great summer league given his 37.4 percent true shooting mark in four games.
But dig a little deeper: He averaged four assists for every turnover in a high-usage, on-ball role and plucked nine steals in 116 minutes, and the main reasons his numbers suffered were outlier bad 3-point shooting (8 of 39) from a guy we know can stroke it.
That said, here are some guys I’d be a bit more concerned about:
Khaman Maluach, Suns: Could the Suns have done what Atlanta did and walked away from the draft with an unprotected future first from the Pelicans and the 23rd pick instead of staying at No. 10? Discussion over whether Phoenix fumbled the bag by not taking the New Orleans offer will only heighten if Maluach can’t give the Suns a quality big.
Phoenix opted to take the Duke project, and I’ll emphasize the word “project” here; his was a rough entry to professional basketball. The 7-1 Maluach only posted a 13.5 percent rebound rate, took nearly half his shots from 3 and had one assist in 70 minutes. Watching from courtside made me more concerned about his hands, as contested rebounds and alley-oop opportunities escaped him at times.
Khaman Maluach looks on during a break in action against the Wizards. (Candice Ward / Getty Images)
Jeremiah Fears, Pelicans: Fears only shot 40 percent for the summer, but I wasn’t as troubled by his shot-making issues. A lot of his misses in the paint were plays where he was trying to draw a foul but didn’t know what was going to get called at this level. He should adjust to that pretty quickly. Additionally, whatever you think of his shooting — 4 of 22 from 3 is outlier bad — he’ll do better than that.
Also, the clips of Fears’ best stuff remain filthy: nasty slaloms to the cup past multiple defenders, with some juice as a finisher once he gets there. What’s more troublesome is the lack of playmaking. Fears had a 21-field goal attempt, zero-assist outing — troubling from a point guard prospect — and left Vegas with only 13 assists against 25 turnovers. While his main promise is as a downhill guard who can score, Fears has to be more threatening as a passer.
Brooklyn’s draft class: Four of the Nets’ five first-round picks played in Vegas (we never saw Drake Powell), and wow, this was not good.
Two of the three worst-performing first-rounders by PER were Nets imports Nolan Traoré and Ben Saraf, while fellow first-rounders Danny Wolf and Egor Demin weren’t much better. Given that many league observers already had questions about Brooklyn’s choices and strategy on draft night, this was not a great kickoff.
While some of these struggles can be written off as shooting variance, Traoré, in particular, looked overmatched. The guard prospect didn’t have a single steal or block in his 67 minutes and only shot 7 of 23 from the field in his three games. Saraf had identical shooting numbers but at least spiked his box score with some promising defense and playmaking.
One other thing that became obvious while watching these guys try to play together was how poorly they fit with one another. All four of the first-rounders who played are guys who need the ball in their hands to be effective but aren’t particularly threatening from the perimeter. That often resulted in situations where somebody like Saraf or Wolf was in the corner as an alleged floor-spacer.
Carter Bryant, Spurs: I’ll couch this by saying I thought Bryant did some positive things, especially at the defensive end. He had multiple impressive on-ball sequences, including turns against Cooper Flagg in the Spurs’ contest against Dallas. The future stopper potential is definitely there.
Bryant also made some nice reads that, unfortunately, didn’t result in assists, and he blocked 10 shots in six games. However, his overall offense was a complete dud, with some head-scratching shoot-pass decisions and blown finishes. In six games (including a couple in the California Classic), he had six 2-point baskets, and he had more turnovers (19) than field goals (14). I’m still relatively bullish on Bryant because of his defense and the fact that his 3-point shooting (8 of 31 this summer) should straighten out, but a 3.0 PER for summer league is no bueno.
Kasparas Jakučionis, Heat: Miami’s first-rounder had his positive moments, including a 19-point first half against Atlanta. But the overall trend line from his six games of summer action was pretty disappointing.
Jakučionis’ 9.1 PER came partly as a result of wayward 3-point shooting (6 of 28) that wouldn’t keep me up at night. He’s historically been a reliable shooter and made 23 of 25 from the line in summer league.
The plague of turnovers, however, is a different story, as it followed a troubling trend from his freshman season at Illinois. Jakučionis had 22 miscues, set against 14 made baskets and 15 assists, and that’s just not a survivable rate from an on-ball guard. Mix in some iffy finishing inside the paint and it’s clear Miami’s player development machine has some work to do to get Jakučionis NBA game-ready.
Hugo González, Celtics: We’ll show González some grace, given that he just finished a long EuroLeague season. Much like Victor Wembanyama when he showed up in Vegas two years ago, González didn’t seem to totally have his legs.
The questions about his skill level didn’t exactly vanish with his play in Vegas. González repeatedly lost his handle, including one notable turnover when he took a single dribble from a standstill and simultaneously had the ball picked and committed a clear path foul. He finished summer league with as many turnovers (13) as baskets and, in addition to shaky perimeter shooting, only shot 6 of 20 inside the arc.
Nikola Topić, Thunder: It’s perhaps understandable that Topić didn’t light up summer league since he hadn’t played competitive basketball in over a year while he rehabbed a knee injury.
The Thunder’s 2024 lottery pick showed a nose for the ball with 11 steals in his six games, but he undermined himself offensively with a rash of turnovers and some rough-looking finishing sequences when he got to the cup. Getting his feet wet was as important as the result, but there are clear areas for improvement heading into his “rookie” season.
Tyler Smith, Bucks: The 33rd pick in the 2024 draft was perhaps the most disappointing second-year player in Vegas, failing to record a single assist in five games, shooting 31.3 percent from the floor and recording a meager 7.0 PER in five games. Already looking at another year buried at the end of the Bucks’ bench, he watched as summer teammate Chris Livingston may have passed him on the depth chart.
Justin Edwards, Sixers: A pleasant surprise as an undrafted rookie in Philadelphia’s otherwise disastrous 2024-25 season, Edwards’ summer league was a major regression. In six games, he shot 11 of 34 on 2s with two turnovers for every assist. The eye test showed a lot of wild forays to the basket that ended badly. On a restocked Sixers team with multiple wing options, he’ll have to show much more to maintain a role.
