We had fantastic games yesterday in the NBA Summer League. Two of the four wins covered today were by one point and it showed. The basketball was beautiful and some of these guys are truly blowing my mind. The performances that are covered here should be watched after the reading of this article. Some are potential NBA superstars and others are high-level role-players. Let’s hop into Wednesday’s basketball action. It’s going to be a fun ride.
Top Summer League Performer of the Day
The recognition for this player is admittedly late, but he has to make this NBA Summer League spotlight at least once. Where better to put him than the performer of the day? Kel’el Ware has had an impressive, consistent summer thus far.
The Miami Heat may have gotten a steal at 15 in the NBA draft. Ware had an explosive 24 points, 10 rebounds, and three block affair all to the tune of +22 as well. That’s offensive and defensive impact just like his upcoming Heat counterpart Bam Adebayo.
Good luck to the rest of the NBA for scoring inside on Miami this season. The Dallas Mavericks were the team on the other end of this demolition. They did have two guards show up, a trend this summer. However, it wasn’t enough to garner a win.
AJ Lawson and Jazian Gortman fought off Ware and the Heat the best they could. Lawson channeled his inner JR Smith for 22 points and Gortman showed a little Jamal Crawford vibes with another 19. Now, let’s throw out who I saw glimpses of in Kel’el Ware: Dereck Lively II.
The Rest of the Best
New York Knicks
The New York Knicks had to fend off a scorching night from an NBA Summer League vet to squeak by the Sacramento Kings by one point. The first one of those intense battles mentioned earlier. It was a great show that hopefully many tuned in for.
Keon Ellis was on one for the Kings yesterday. He displayed his immense basketball growth with a mesmerizing game, 29 points, four rebounds, six assists, two steals, and four blocks. Wow! Mason Jones was a welcomed help beside him with 20 points and seven assists too.
It was a tough skirmish for the Knicks. Tyler Kolek and Rokas Jokubaitis shot lights out from everywhere for them. Especially Jokubaitis. He’s one I just learned about and consider me stunned. His 16 points and five assist game on perfect shooting was a thing of beauty.
Let’s keep my comp train going for Kolek. He’s looking a little TJ McConnellish. Quick shoutout to Justin Lewis too. He was on my watchlist. Lewis knocked down some open threes and did his thang in Las Vegas yesterday. He’s a dude.
Utah Jazz
The Toronto Raptors and Utah Jazz fixture featured another potential thievery in this past NBA draft, Kyle Filipowski. Filip splashed threes, swatted shots, and showed handles with a 6’11” frame. Utah is feeling particularly jazzy about this pick for sure.
If you only tuned into this game during the NBA Summer League, you would believe Utah hit with Taylor Hendricks as well. He turned around his shot in this one and showed a well-rounded game alongside his boy Kyle. Cody Williams put on display some more of his skills too. The Jazz could be on fire draft-wise and Filipowski could be a legit NBA future star. The Toronto Raptors sat some of their earlier participants, but Javon Freeman-Liberty displayed some playmaking. He could easily be a Jae Crowder for this team.
Phoenix Suns
This spotlight is going to be ended with another NBA Summer League barnburner. The Phoenix Suns stole one from the Oklahoma City Thunder from the charity stripe, courtesy of a foul called on a last-second David Roddy three. What a game!
Roddy is big and plays big. That showed in his effort for the summer Suns yesterday. He flashed playmaking and shotmaking. He also powered home some tough finishes inside. Jalen Bridges keeps showing his ability to knock down threes when he’s called upon and Phoenix may have a potential starting guard in Isaiah Wong later down the road.
Wong pulled out an impressive bag of handles and ways of scoring the basketball. If Phoenix can get him to use that vision to share the rock more, he could be a real danger to NBA defenses. All three players could push for a few minutes here and there on this Suns team.
The Thunder got a fireworks display of swishes from Buddy Boeheim and Jaden Shackelford to remain close throughout this tussle. The latter was hitting some deep Curry-range triples! Quite a few of these were also in the clutch.
I will repeat… What a game! Please watch the highlights of this one. The ending fizzled with the free throws, but everything up to that point was top-notch NBA Summer League action! Enjoy today’s summer basketball folks and see you tomorrow for another summer league spotlight.
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