LAS VEGAS – As time was ticking off the clock in the first half of Saturday’s Houston Rockets summer league game versus Oklahoma City, Rockets guard TyTy Washington received a cross-court pass from teammate Daishen Nix right above the 3-point line.
With Josh Christopher open in the corner, the Thunder defender had to quickly decide who he would guard, and he followed his instincts and closed out on the shooter. From there, Washington pump-faked a shot, took one hard dribble to the right, and hoisted up a 24-foot 3-point shot over the outstretched arm of a second defender. Washington’s shot hit nothing but net, giving his team a 45-40 halftime lead.
What made the shot so special wasn’t that Washington made a good basketball play. It was the fact that he had pump-faked his old high school nemesis, Jalen Williams, who was selected at No. 12 overall in the 2022 NBA draft by Oklahoma City. The two Arizona natives grew up playing against each other and are good friends off the court.
“It felt really good,” Washington said about his buzzer-beater over Willams. “When he was running at me, I looked at him, and once I pump-faked him and moved to the side, I heard him screaming, ‘That’s off.’ So, after I made it, I looked at him like, come on Jalen, you know I got this.”
TyTy Washington beats the buzzer from deep 🎯 pic.twitter.com/VUX4MkS2ct
— NBA (@NBA) July 10, 2022
Washington, who scored 9 points in 22 minutes, was a standout high school player at Ceasar Chavez and Arizona Compass Prep. Meanwhile, Williams shined at Gilbert Perry. The two have known each other for a very long time, but they hadn’t played against each other in a while.
“Me and Jalen started playing against each other when we were like babies, like eight or nine years old,” Washington said postgame. “From middle school to early high school. This is my first time playing against him since then. It’s been a long time, but just seeing us out there on the biggest stage out there competing was really cool.”
@tytywashington3 talks about playing against his long time friend @JdubPSCEO (OKC Jalen Williams) and what Williams said to him before he hit the buzzer beating three at the end of the first half. #Rockets #LightTheFuse #NBA2K23SummerLeague #Sarge @okcthunder @TheRocketsWire pic.twitter.com/GUhn6ne6en
— Houston Sports Insider (@BigSargeSportz) July 10, 2022
Williams echoed the same friendly sentiments towards Washington in his post-game press conference.
“It is kind of rare, especially in Arizona, to play against someone you grew up with,” said Williams, who finished with 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting (58.3%) in 28 minutes. He also had 5 rebounds and 2 steals. “I have known TyTy (Washington) since we were like six. So, it was a really cool experience and he played well, too, so that was dope.”
Arizona became a hot spot for NBA talent in this year’s draft. In all, six players from the state were drafted, including Washington, who was selected by Memphis at No. 29 and traded to the Rockets.
“I feel like Arizona is slept on, but this year we had six people who went to high school in Arizona get drafted,” said Washington, who put Houston in front for good with a floater in the final 30 seconds of Saturday’s win. “Arizona is not a bummy state. We got a few hoopers out there.”
TyTy Washington gives the @HoustonRockets the lead with under 30 seconds remaining on ESPN 2 🚀 pic.twitter.com/7zOnCVjYzl
— NBA (@NBA) July 10, 2022
