You had to believe it was only a matter of time for the young gun.
Former Ohio State guard Malaki Branham has shown flashes of his potential for the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA’s Summer League but had yet to put it all together consistently. That all changed Saturday.
Much like what we saw during Branham’s freshman campaign at OSU, once the talented guard figured things out, he was off and running. That seemed to come against the Memphis Grizzlies when Branham showed a more aggressive mindset and poured in 23 points, 15 of them coming on five 3-point makes in a welcome to the NBA moment.
In case you missed some of the highlights of what the Big Ten’s Freshman of the Year from last season did, you can get a look thanks to video the Ohio State Hoops Twitter account shared on Sunday.
.@MalakiBranham was hoopin' yesterday in our #SummerSpurs finale 👀
23 PTS | 5 3PM pic.twitter.com/sotMjco9Xj
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) July 17, 2022
Now, there are caveats to all of this. It’s just the summer league, it wasn’t against the top competition in the league, and it was just one game. But, there’s no denying the multiple ways Branham can score, and the touch that he has around the rim, in the mid-range, and from beyond the arc.
Hopefully, we’ll see more of this when we see him crank things up for the regular season.
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