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There’s one hard and fast rule when it comes to evaluating player performance at NBA Summer League: it’s only okay to overreact if it strengthens your pre-existing beliefs and narratives. There are worse ways to spend one’s time in Las Vegas than searching for confirmation bias on the frantic courts of summer league.
In reality, the only universally agreed upon summer league truth is that it’s a very bad sign if second and third-year players are struggling as former first-round picks. For everyone else, what happens in Vegas should be taken with a grain of salt yet enjoyed to its fullest because it’s awesome to have NBA basketball back in July even if it’s only JV teams duking it out for a couple weeks.
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Summer league is mostly about watching the NBA’s recent draft picks, but it’s always nice when young veterans show they might be taking a leap for the upcoming season. A year ago, Ajay Mitchell was on my too good for summer league list and then proceeded to have a breakout year for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Here are the players who look too good to be in Las Vegas this summer.
Riley measured above 6’8 barefoot at the combine ahead of the 2025 draft, and he’s reportedly gotten even taller since then. Now standing around 6’10, the 20-year-old wing showed off his deep bag of scoring moves with fearless takes to the rim, spot-up threes, and solid rebounding for his position in Las Vegas. Riley is really slippery off the bounce to beat the first line of the defense, and his long strides and extension finishes help him finish at the basket even with his thin frame. His shooting tends to run hot-and-cold, but he has real utility in his three-point shot both off the dribble and on spot-ups, and there’s no doubt he has NBA range on his jumper. Riley is just a really fluid athlete for his size with real shooting upside, and he has the awareness to relocate off the ball to put himself in a better position to score. There are suddenly a lot of mouths to feed in Washington, but Riley seems like a walking bucket who is just starting to scratch his long-term upside.
Slawson was a 2023 NCAA tournament hero for…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/8-nba-players-way-too-120000633.html
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Publish date : 2026-07-14 12:00:00
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