Basketball never stops, folks. The NBA Draft might be over, but the Summer League is right around the corner.
This is basically a sneak preview of what’s to come this season. Obviously, Summer League has no bearing on what happens when the real basketball starts this fall. But we do get to watch our favorite rookies and see all that they may have to offer their respective teams.
And, this year, it just so happens that we also have one of the best prospects to ever touch a basketball playing in some of the games, too. We’ll finally get our first look at Victor Wembanyama against NBA competition.
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Not only that, but we’ll see how Scoot Henderson looks. We’ll see Brandon Miller’s skillset against tough competition. We’ll see the Thompson twins dunking on everything — maybe even each other!
This summer is going to be so fun. Here are all the players we’re excited to watch:
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1
Victor Wembanyama
Do I really need to convince anyone to line up and watch this dude? He’s great, man. We have no idea how tall he actually is, but it’s at least 7-foot-3. And he’s got the skills of a guard.
Victor Wembanyama is a true basketball alien in every sense of the word. He’s going to be must-see TV every single year. That’s not going to change this summer.
2
Chet Holmgren
Everyone has sort of forgotten about Chet Holmgren, but this dude is a rookie this year!
He was shelved after injuring his foot in a Pro-Am game last season for the entire year. Now, he’s back. He’s built his body up a bit more and looks like he could be really good. The Chet Holmgren Rookie of the Year campaign starts now. If only we’d get to see him going against Wemby.
3
Scoot Henderson
It’s pretty clear that Scoot Henderson is going to come into Portland with a chip on his shoulder immediately. And I think we’ll see that play out in the NBA Summer League.
This dude didn’t feel like he should’ve gone any lower than the No. 2 overall pick. He made that clear. But he did. And, now, he’s going to try and prove that that move was a mistake.
4
Brandon Miller
Brandon Miller has a lot to prove as the No. 2 overall pick in the draft. His offensive game shouldn’t be questioned — he’s a big guard with an excellent shooting stroke and a solid handle. Off of talent alone, he’s worth it.
But there are questions about the competition he faced in college. Miller played against some of the better teams in the NCAA tournament this past March and didn’t fare well at all. He’ll have a chance to show that he can compete with the best of the best this summer.
5
Jabari Smith
Smith’s rookie year was a bit disappointing, but that’s not really any fault of his own. He played with two guards who were extremely ball dominant and never really found his footing offensively outside of a few games.
But those few games? Man, they were incredible. Particularly, looking back on the comeback win he sparked against the Pelicans, Smith showed us what he could be. He just needs some reps. Hopefully, he’ll get them this summer alongside Amen Thompson and Cam Whitmore.
6
Shaedon Sharpe
Sharpe caught a lot of people by surprise with an extremely strong stretch for the Trail Blazers to close the season off last year. He’s probably a bit ahead of schedule, but it still might be worth it to get him some on-ball reps in the Summer League to expand his game.
I’m begging the Trail Blazers to let him play just so we can see all of the incredible dunks.
7
Amen Thompson
I know he’s just a rookie, but I feel very confident in saying that Amen Thompson is one of the five best athletes in the NBA already.
Not only does he jump out the gym, but he’s extremely fast and lighting quick at the same time. He gets to the rim with ease — even with teams playing far off of him because he can’t shoot. He’s going to absolutely light defenses up with the Houston Rockets Summer League squad.
8
Ausar Thompson
Just like Amen, Ausar Thompson is an athletic genius. He’s not quite as athletic as his brother, but no one truly is. The dude still jumps out of the gym.
His scoring chops are actually a bit better than Amen’s, too. He’s got a little bit of a postgame and is a better shooter to this point in his career. Seeing how he uses those skills against his peers in Summer League is going to be extremely fun.
9
Jalen Duren
Like Chet Holmgren, we’ll see how much Duren actually plays. He’s a true sophomore in the NBA this year and may only appear in the first game or two of the Summer League with Ausar Thompson.
But if he does play? Whew boy, that’s going to be fun. Get ready for a whole bunch of dunking and blocked shots.
10
Jarace Walker
Jarace Walker played a bit of a defensive role in Houston as a more traditional big man, but there’s an offensive game that we haven’t quite seen explored just yet on a bigger stage.
Walker is a very good passer. He knows how to read defenses and create for others once he gets down into the paint offensively. Hopefully, we see a lot of that in Las Vegas this year when the Pacers’ forward plays.
11
Gradey Dick
Gradey Dick might be the funniest dude in the NBA Draft so far. He’s already made himself into a meme and he hasn’t played a minute of NBA basketball just yet.
There’s a solid game behind all of that, though. Dick is one of the best shooters in this draft. And he’s got a bit of a scoring bag, too, that I think we’ll get to see when he plays in Las Vegas this year. It’s going to be fun to watch.
12
Anthony Black
If Anthony Black had a jump shot, the No. 6 overall pick probably would’ve gone a lot higher than where the Orlando Magic actually took him.
That’s saying something with names like Scoot Henderson and Amen Thompson going above him while playing the same position. Watching Black’s improvement on offense is going to be something to keep an eye on throughout his career.
13
Cam Whitmore
The Cam Whitmore revenge tour starts in Las Vegas.
This dude absolutely dropped in the draft. He was once considered a top five pick. Then maybe a top-10 pick. Then, inexplicably, Whitmore fell all the way down to the Rockets at No. 20 overall.
I don’t know what it was about Whitmore that scared teams away. But I do know this — he’s going to try and prove every single one of them wrong. And that’s going to be fun to watch all season long.
14
Bilal Coulibaly
Okay, maybe this is just the Wizards fan in me being a little too overexcited to watch the newest player on the roster.
But, man. This dude has so many tools. His stat line from his time playing alongside Victor Wembanyama on Metropolitans 92 doesn’t do him justice — he played a spot 3-and-D role with the club’s main team and ended up playing a huge role for them on their way to the league’s finals.
He’s going to have the ball in his hands a lot in the summer league, though. And that’s going to be extremely fun to see.
15
Jeremy Sochan
Like a few of the names above, it’s sort of up in the air whether Jeremy Sochan will actually play for the Spurs in Utah and Vegas this summer.
He’s a second year player, obviously, so he doesn’t necessarily need all of the reps. But if he does get out there? He’s going to absolutely dominate. The dude’s skillset as a playmaking defensive-minded forward is perfect for Summer League. Seeing that alongside Victor Wembanyama is going to be fun.
16
Jordan Hawkins
It’s hard to say that anybody made themselves more money than Jordan Hawkins did during UConn’s championship run in the NCAA tournament this year.
Hawkins wasn’t considered a lottery talent going into the tournament but shot up boards after making shot after shot after shot from deep. He was UConn’s best offensive player and we’ll get to see how that skill translates on an NBA floor very soon. That’s exciting.
17
Taylor Hendricks
Anytime you have a big man who has a shooting stroke like Taylor Hendricks does, it’s an exciting time.
This dude is 6-foot-10 and shot 40 percent from deep at UCF on some pretty high volume. I can’t wait to see what that looks like in an NBA offense where spacing actually makes a world of a difference. Hendricks is super underrated.
18
Kobe Bufkin
Kobe Bufkin has star potential. That’s why his range in this year’s NBA draft went from as high as No. 8 overall to somewhere in the 20s. He shot up draft boards because of his versatility offensively and wound up going to the Hawks at No. 15 overall.
We’ll get to see all of that versatility on display this summer.
19
Emoni Bates
Once upon a time, Emoni Bates was one of the most coveted prospects going into college basketball. Some even believed he may have been the best — full stop.
He fell to the 2nd round of the draft, though, after being picked by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Still, Bates is an exciting talent in this draft class whose bucket-getting skills rival the best of his peers. He’s going to be an exciting watch this summer.
20
Drew Timme
Of course, Drew Timme didn’t actually get drafted this year. But he did sign an Exhibit-10 deal with the Milwaukee Bucks for this summer.
Timme isn’t Wembanyama in terms of the sort of star he is, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a more recognizable face from the college basketball world over the last three years. Gonzaga has played deep into the tournament each time and he was a large part of that.
Lots of people are going to be excited to watch Timme play basketball — even if it isn’t really all that meaningful.
