NBA-ийн зуны лигийн шинэ тоглогчдын тоглолт өндөрлөлөө

NBA Summer League has come and gone for the rookie class. And, man, did they put on a show.

The 2026 NBA Draft class built significant enthusiasm throughout the last year, and it did not disappoint as fans got to see these players in NBA jerseys for the first time. All of the top-four prospects played absurdly well, and many selected beyond that top group also impressed.

Let’s break down how I look at summer league, and then we’ll talk about the rookies.

How I evaluate summer league

There are two important things to note from how I watch these games. First, is this performance an outlier in some sort of good or bad way? All the top four players looked like outliers. A few of the lower-drafted players also looked like outliers. Otherwise, I tend not to worry about summer league one way or another.

I also really do not care about what we see from these players on defense in any way, shape, or form. These exhibitions are not indicative of NBA games on that end of the court. They’re useful evaluations because they show what players look like against better talent in NBA spacing, but they also feature absolutely zero defensive cohesion and a situation in which seemingly every possession ends up in some type of recovery. There’s far too much chaos to get anything resembling a real read of what a player will look like defensively.

Finally, I don’t think anyone should get wildly excited about summer league stats. Again, these games are really loose. Last year, the leading scorers were Kyle Filipowski, Drew Timme and Quenton Jackson. The year before, they were Julian Strawther, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Jordan Miller. The last time an All-Star finished in the top five of summer league scoring was in 2021 with Tyrese Maxey, and he’s the only player to finish in the top five of summer league scoring to become an All-Star since 2018.

Given that AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson and Caleb Wilson all finished in the top six of summer league scoring this year, I’m guessing that will change. But it’s not worth overreacting to these stats.

In 2018, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander did not look like a future MVP on his way to averaging 19 points while shooting 46 percent from the field, 25 percent from 3 and 64 percent from the line. People questioned Cade Cunningham’s performances in 2021 when he averaged 2.3 assists versus four turnovers. Well, he finished second in the NBA in assists per game this year. Chet Holmgren only averaged 12 points per game, and Jalen Williams only averaged 10.5 points in 2022 summer league. Three years later, they were the second- and third-best players on an NBA title team. The examples go on and on.

Now, let’s evaluate the rookies …

AJ Dybantsa | Washington Wizards | No. 1

Dybantsa was as advertised in his two games in Las Vegas. The 6-foot-9 wing lived in the lane as a downhill driver no matter who the Utah Jazz or Sacramento Kings put on him. The Wizards played him extensively on the ball, a role he doesn’t figure to play often this year while featuring in lineups next to Trae Young, and he consistently broke down the defense. He got out on the break in transition with regularity and with force. When he played off the ball and felt his man sag off him, he consistently caught and stampeded downhill immediately. But also in his on-ball reps, I thought Dybantsa showed solid poise and patience in letting plays develop around him before exploding to score at the rim. Dybantsa dropped 50 total points in his two games.

Dybantsa still must learn from skill and craftiness. At this summer-league level and in college, he could just stride out and draw fouls at will with his gathers and footwork around the rim. He drew 14 free-throw attempts, which is ridiculous in a setting where G League rules were in effect with players shooting one free throw for two points. He won’t get bailed out as easily in the NBA and will need to find answers as a shooter. The jumper was not working in Las Vegas, as he shot just 1 of 11 from 3. His percentages won’t be that bad in the NBA, but he’ll need to take the next two years to lock in and hone his jumper. The mechanics were messy this week.

Still, I don’t know that any player looked more like what we expected than Dybantsa did. He looked like he has star wing upside. He drew fouls. And he looked like the dynamic athlete we’ve come to expect.

Darryn Peterson | Utah Jazz | No. 2

Peterson played four games between the Salt Lake City and Las Vegas Summer Leagues, looking every bit as advertised as Dybantsa did. Peterson drilled 3s with ease, hitting 38.5 percent of his nearly seven attempts from distance per game. He played on the ball a lot, showcasing dynamic athleticism to separate from his man when getting to pull-up jumpers on his way to averaging 25 points per game. He hit tough jumpers from all over the court and looks ready to step into a significant role for the Jazz.

But I thought Peterson displayed some of the struggles that we saw at Kansas when it comes to getting all the way to the rim. The Jazz played him on the ball a ton, and Peterson was excellent at playing in ball screens and getting to his spot for a jumper. He also showcased passing acumen, dishing out 5.5 assists per game, including a killer performance in a showcase game against Cameron Boozer and the Memphis Grizzlies where he found his teammates for 12 helpers. But it felt like he often settled for floaters in the 6-foot range instead of getting to the bucket. He drew fouls at a high clip in Las Vegas to mitigate that issue, averaging eight free-throw attempts in those two games. But given that this was at least a concern at Kansas, it’s something to watch moving forward.

Much like Dybantsa above him, though, Peterson displayed everything you’d look for in a potential superstar on this level of competition. The shotmaking ability was out of control, and he had some positive moments on defense as well.

Cameron Boozer | Memphis Grizzlies | No. 3

Boozer played five quietly superb games between his two summer league stops, scoring 18 points, grabbing seven rebounds and dishing out nearly four assists while shooting 51 percent from the field, 45 percent from 3 and 80 percent from the line in 27 minutes per game. Throughout his career, Boozer has gotten overshadowed by flashier players, and that continued over the last two weeks as Peterson had his monster 22-point, 12-assist game against the Grizzlies and Boozer’s first game in Las Vegas came against Caleb Wilson’s 35-point eruption.

I felt like Boozer put up the probably most translatable tape to actual NBA games of any of the top prospects. Dybantsa overwhelmed everyone athletically in a way he might not be able to do in the real NBA. Peterson was on the ball so often and had more struggles moderating his efficiency and aggressiveness than Boozer did. We’ll talk about Wilson in the next section, but his performance was built on 3-point shooting and the ball going in the hoop while the process was a bit messy. Boozer’s game was much more structurally sound in that he consistently made the right decisions while also continually threatening defenses. He drilled shots from distance and provided versatile reps out of ball screens, as a roller, as a passing hub and occasionally in the post. There’s a lot to be excited about due to how many ways he can structurally harm the defense.

The Grizzlies are going to be able to pop Boozer into NBA games, see him play over 30 minutes per night and average about 20 points, nine assists and four rebounds next season. He remains my pick for rookie of the year after what we saw in his two summer league performances.

Caleb Wilson | Chicago Bulls | No. 4

I had several people ask me who the player I was most excited to see in Las Vegas was before the games started, and my answer was Wilson. First and foremost, Wilson’s competitive character is off the charts. He’s the epitome of a “dawg.” He was always going to go out there to try to put on a show, especially given the high-profile nature of his matchups. Plus, he hadn’t played in five months after his late-season hand injury forced him to miss the end of his lone collegiate season at North Carolina.

Indeed, Wilson’s performances were the most explosive in Las Vegas, as the fourth pick put up the most exciting performance of the event with his 35-point opener against Boozer and the Grizzlies. After having made just seven 3s all season at UNC, Wilson came out to prove a point, hitting seven of his 11 3-point attempts in that game alone. In his three games, he took 25 3s and made 48 percent of them. He hit several impressive pull-up 3s, showcasing serious improvement from where his jumper was just five months ago.

And indeed, it’s fair to say that this is improvement. This isn’t a case of the Tar Heels holding Wilson back, or Wilson choosing not to shoot at North Carolina. There was no track record of Wilson making 3s at a decent clip. Wilson made only seven of his 27 3-point attempts at UNC. On the EYBL circuit in 2024, Wilson made just eight of his 42 attempts in 19 games. In 2023 on the EYBL circuit, he made just 19 of his 76 attempts.

I’m not sure I’ve seen a player more resoundingly come out and showcase such drastic improvement in a single skill level. I’m not saying that Wilson will make 40 percent of his 3s this season with the Bulls, but I feel more confident in Wilson’s jumper now than I expected entering summer league. The mechanics look cleaner and more fluid. He’s not bringing the ball back as far toward his forehead. He has simplified things. There are fewer places where the shot can go wrong now as he loads into his shooting pocket and fires.

There will be growing pains here. He’ll go through spurts of inconsistency as he irons things out. But this is a massive leap in an incredibly important skill that should have Bulls fans salivating at the thought that they have found their next superstar.

Why else should they be excited? Oh yeah, Wilson can still do stuff like this:

There were some process issues that I could quibble with in regard to how Wilson got to his spots and some ballhandling issues that I worry about against legitimate NBA competition. He had 1.8 assists versus 5.3 turnovers per game, almost solely looking to score in his minutes. Summer league games also play into Wilson’s hands as an elite athlete who thrives in semi-controlled chaos. His half-court creation outside of pulling up for 3s left something to be desired. But I feel like so much of the bad stuff came back to Wilson trying to prove a point, so I don’t know that it’s worth getting concerned about anything until we see him play real games.

This was a monster performance, and the kind of stuff you expect from future superstars. Wilson looked the part.

Keaton Wagler | LA Clippers | No. 5

Wagler was one of the more divisive rookies at summer league, and it’s easy to understand why.

NBA executives noted throughout summer league that the referees were allowing an inordinate amount of hand-checking and physical on-ball defense without calling fouls, and a prime example of that came in Wagler’s first game. He was often matched against Kings guard Emanuel Sharp, who is one of the best, most physical defenders in the class. Sharp did an elite job making Wagler’s life miserable, but he also did so while bumping Wagler constantly and using his forearm to arrest his momentum (something Sharp did not get away with as much in the following game against the Wizards, when he was called for seven fouls in 22 minutes). On top of that, much like many other summer league rosters, the Clippers did not feature a ton of shooting to create space around Wagler, and 6-foot-7 center Norchad Omier isn’t a rim runner as much as he is an above-the-rim vertical spacer.

Wagler, a teenage lead guard whose frame is still developing, dealt well with the pressure from a ball-control perspective, but he often didn’t actually get anywhere on the court. A lot of Wagler’s worst plays looked like some of the worst stuff that you saw at summer league from a high-end prospect. He got crowded a lot and struggled to get to his spots, sometimes because he couldn’t beat his man and other times because there was no room to drive. Both the Kings and Jazz also blitzed Wagler at times and forced the ball out of his hands.

But on the other side of the equation, I thought Wagler’s decision-making in the face of that pressure was superb. He was timely with his passes to short rollers or pick-and-pop players. He made the right kickouts when they came available. I thought Wagler’s best moments looked like stuff that, outside of the top-four prospects. was most translatable to the NBA in terms of timing and with how he found his teammates.

Then, against the Jazz in his second game, he got hot in the third quarter and dropped 18 of his 23 points, outplaying Peterson over the totality of their performances. That third quarter was such a fun glimpse into what Wagler could become down the road if things break right. He played on the ball, driving into the lane and getting to his spot. Wagler just consistently puts the ball where it needs to be at the right moment. The Clippers also ran him a bit off the ball, where he started to play off screening actions or relocate into open space, and he drilled four 3s.

I’m more positive about his summer league than most seem to be. There are definitely some flaws here that could become issues, but Wagler’s game isn’t exactly built for summer league. I’m not selling based on what we saw. He’s a problem-solver as a player, and I felt like he definitely solved the problems that the defense presented.

Brayden Burries | Milwaukee Bucks | No. 10

It probably was not a good sign that the Bucks were terrible even by summer league standards, given how many contracted players they had on their team, but that had nothing to do with Burries. He was one of the best players I saw at summer league, point blank. In Las Vegas, he scored 67 points in three games, shot 50 percent from the field and 44 percent from 3 and dished out 12 assists versus only one turnover. His comfort level and lack of fear stood out from the get-go. He looked completely poised. It’s impossible to rush him with pressure.

The footwork, polish and suddenness in his moves to separate from his man seem to have even improved from last season at Arizona, when they were significant strengths. Burries is constantly on-balance, and he’s ready to make an impact from Day One for the Bucks. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him compete for a first-team All-Rookie berth this season, given that he’s also a polished defender whom new coach Taylor Jenkins will be able to rely on.

Other Players

• I only wrote about players whom I saw live at Summer League. The lottery picks I did not get a chance to see were the Brooklyn Nets’ Mikel Brown Jr. and the Atlanta Hawks’ Kingston Flemings. Both got strong remarks from scouts I spoke with. I also didn’t get a chance to see the Philadelphia 76ers’ Labaron Philon Jr., another guard scouts were excited about.

• The Kings had an interesting summer league experience that was probably worth putting in this section rather than just calling out No. 7 pick Darius Acuff Jr.‘s game. On one hand, Acuff got where he wanted to go out of ball screens. However, he missed a ton of 3s. The process was also far too geared toward scoring as opposed to passing, although that improved over his final three games. I’d bet that he averages 20 this year, but it might be inefficient. I also loved what Emanuel Sharp showed on defense, as mentioned above in the Wagler section. He was tough and physical, looking like a rotation player. Alex Karaban dealt with an ankle injury and struggled in his first game in Las Vegas before improving.

• Morez Johnson Jr. was outstanding for the Dallas Mavericks. His energy was superb, and he outworked everyone on the interior. His game looked like what it was expected to look like coming out of Michigan. H looks like an impact player as a rookie. The Mavericks should be extremely happy with how his touch around the rim looked against length.

• The best passer I saw at summer league was Mavs guard Sergio de Larrea, the 25th pick from Spain who has a long track record of playing against professional competition. He was sharp and timely with the ball in his hands, making the right reads at the right times consistently. I also appreciated the degree of creativity we saw from him. He used eye manipulation at an expert level to create open looks for his teammates, both in half-court settings and transition.

• Hannes Steinbach caught my eye for the Charlotte Hornets. I left before his monster 27-point, 15-rebound game against Milwaukee, but he played well against Orlando and looked the part with his movements and ability to keep the offense flowing. Because he has superb hands and catches everything in his area without bobbling, he can keep the offense in rhythm with passes or with clean and quick finishes. He also stood out as a rebounder even against bigger competition. Christian Anderson Jr.looked small and struggled, but Steinbach played well enough to have Hornets fans excited about their draft.