2025 NBA Summer League

DonerKebab said:
I didn't follow this, what happened with Ace Bailey?
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It's hard to separate what's fact and what's rumor, but I feel confident in saying the following:

1. Ace Bailey was widely considered a top 3 pick for most of the past year.
2. His official height at the NBA Combine (6' 7.50" without shoes) was not shocking, but shorter than expected.
3. He participated in the drills and media interviews at the Combine, but elected not to visit any teams for private workouts. He finally set an appointment to visit Philadelphia (who had the #3 pick) the week before the draft, but later cancelled.
4. ESPN's Jonathan Givony reported that "Ace Bailey's representatives informed a team drafting inside the top five that they didn't want that team to select the Rutgers wing and that he wouldn't report if it did."
5. Ace Bailey appeared stoic when Utah selected him at #5. The Jazz also selected Walter Clayton Jr at #18, and when Clayton took the team jet from Brooklyn to Salt Lake City, Bailey did not join him. He flew in on Saturday, 1 or 2 days later.

The impression/speculation is that Bailey was not interested in playing for the 76ers because he preferred to be the primary scoring option on an East Coast team, which probably meant Washington at #6 or Brooklyn at #8. Even under these circumstances, you might expect a player to still visit the teams at the top -- Dallas, San Antonio, Philadelphia -- as well as Washington and Brooklyn. But he visited nobody.

Based on this, I would think the goal is to have Washington or Brooklyn trade up to #3 in a deal that would benefit Philadelphia with that #6 or #8 pick, plus a roster player and/or future draft picks. That way Bailey gets the better rookie contract money at #3 and plays for the team he wants. But no trades happened at the top of the draft at all, for Bailey or anyone else. It's like the teams just picked who they wanted because it was all so uncertain. When Utah took him at #5 and Washington took Tre Johnson at #6, I thought for sure a swap was imminent because it would make more sense, but it never took place.
 
There has been talk that Utah really wanted Bailey, that Ainge saw him as the clear #3 player in the draft and a kid with a ton of upside. But Ainge didn't want Washington to know that and try to trade up. Prior to the draft, Ainge was making noise about wanting Tre Johnson or Kon Kneuppel. At one point there was even a rumor Utah might trade up to get one of them.

And then Bailey fell into Danny's lap and he grabbed him.

I don't know how this will all work out. I don't know if Bailey will develop into an elite shotmaker or will just remain a kid who makes a lot of tough shots... but also misses a lot of tough shots. But if it works out, this could go down alongside Jayson Tatum instead of Markel Fultz as one of those moments where Danny fleeced everyone picking around him.
 
Kedsy said:
Brevity, you work so hard at these (and other) posts and they’re always clever and often funny. Amazing stuff. Thank you.
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Thanks for reading! It's one of my favorite threads to do. Credit to @awhom111 for getting it started years ago.

It's a hot Saturday morning. No better time for the Brooklyn Nets to channel the year 1989, the number, another summer...

nets2025.jpg
(source)

The chalkboard-ish pavement, the fun lettering, and especially the boombox put me in a Do the Right Thing kind of mood (a little NSFW):


And that speech makes me want to revisit The Night of the Hunter:


R.I.P. Radio Raheem. And Bill Nunn. And Robert Mitchum.

The Nets had five first round selections last month, and used each one of them to draft what should've been a cool starting lineup, except they didn't.

6-8 guard Egor Demin (#8 pick)
6-3 guard Nolan Traoré (#19 pick)
6-5 wing Drake Powell (#22 pick)
6-8 guard Ben Saraf (#26 pick)
6-11 forward Danny Wolf (#27 pick)

I said this in DBR Chat on draft night and I'll say it again: I don't get the vision. The insane amount of positional overlap here brings to mind the 2009 draft, when Minnesota drafted point guards Ricky Rubio at #5 and Jonny Flynn at #6, only to see Golden State take Steph Curry at #7. There's nothing wrong with these five players individually, but it makes little sense to try to develop them all at the same time, especially with the inherent infighting over similar roles. I can see why Ace Bailey might have wanted to come to Brooklyn; it's easy to take over an organization that doesn't know what it's doing.

Anyway, the tall order of training three guards, a defensive-minded wing shorter than two of them, and American Jokić for the pros starts now. The three guards will compete among themselves for attention. ACC soloist Drake Powell will get to see just how poorly UNC prepared him, with undrafted wings TJ Bamba and Dre Davis hot on his trail. Danny Wolf will have to battle undrafted post Grant Nelson and returning pro Drew Timme for valuable post time, and with their examples, maybe work on his mustache game as well.
 
Pghdukie said:
Brev, Thanks for all you do ! Certainly appreciated
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Thank you for the kind words.

Summer League games in San Francisco and Salt Lake City start today. From a Duke perspective, Marques Bolden, Kyle Filipowski, and DJ Steward are expected to be in action. Check the schedules here and here to see if the games are streaming or airing on regional or local channels. Links provided below are to streaming, if you already get NBA TV and the ESPN networks from your provider, or separately subscribe to ESPN+.

SATURDAY, JULY 5

Spurs vs Heat, 4:30pm ET on NBA TV or ESPN3 or ESPN+
Lakers (Steward) vs Warriors (Bolden), 6:30pm ET on ESPN2 or ESPN+
Grizzlies vs Thunder, 7pm ET on ESPNU or ESPN+
Sixers vs Jazz (Filipowski), 9pm ET on ESPN or ESPN+

SUNDAY, JULY 6

Lakers (Steward) vs Heat, 4:30pm ET on NBA TV or ESPN+
Spurs vs Warriors (Bolden), 6:30pm ET on NBA TV or ESPN+

MONDAY, JULY 7

Thunder vs Sixers, 7pm ET on ESPN or ESPN+
Grizzlies vs Jazz (Filipowski), 9pm ET on NBA TV or ESPN+

TUESDAY, JULY 8

Grizzlies vs Sixers, 7pm ET on NBA TV or ESPN+
Heat vs Warriors (Bolden), 7pm ET on ESPN+
Thunder vs Jazz (Filipowski), 9pm ET on NBA TV or ESPN+
Lakers (Steward) vs Spurs, 10pm ET on ESPN or ESPN+
 
brevity said:
Thanks for reading! It's one of my favorite threads to do. Credit to @awhom111 for getting it started years ago.

It's a hot Saturday morning. No better time for the Brooklyn Nets to channel the year 1989, the number, another summer...

View attachment 20306
(source)

The chalkboard-ish pavement, the fun lettering, and especially the boombox put me in a Do the Right Thing kind of mood (a little NSFW):


And that speech makes me want to revisit The Night of the Hunter:


R.I.P. Radio Raheem. And Bill Nunn. And Robert Mitchum.
Click to expand...
RIP indeed. Great scene from one of my top 3 movies of all time. And yes, I do own that exact “Bed-Stuy Do or Die” t-shirt that Radio Raheem wears.

Fight the Power!
 
brevity said:
It's hard to separate what's fact and what's rumor, but I feel confident in saying the following:

1. Ace Bailey was widely considered a top 3 pick for most of the past year.
2. His official height at the NBA Combine (6' 7.50" without shoes) was not shocking, but shorter than expected.
3. He participated in the drills and media interviews at the Combine, but elected not to visit any teams for private workouts. He finally set an appointment to visit Philadelphia (who had the #3 pick) the week before the draft, but later cancelled.
4. ESPN's Jonathan Givony reported that "Ace Bailey's representatives informed a team drafting inside the top five that they didn't want that team to select the Rutgers wing and that he wouldn't report if it did."
5. Ace Bailey appeared stoic when Utah selected him at #5. The Jazz also selected Walter Clayton Jr at #18, and when Clayton took the team jet from Brooklyn to Salt Lake City, Bailey did not join him. He flew in on Saturday, 1 or 2 days later.

The impression/speculation is that Bailey was not interested in playing for the 76ers because he preferred to be the primary scoring option on an East Coast team, which probably meant Washington at #6 or Brooklyn at #8. Even under these circumstances, you might expect a player to still visit the teams at the top -- Dallas, San Antonio, Philadelphia -- as well as Washington and Brooklyn. But he visited nobody.

Based on this, I would think the goal is to have Washington or Brooklyn trade up to #3 in a deal that would benefit Philadelphia with that #6 or #8 pick, plus a roster player and/or future draft picks. That way Bailey gets the better rookie contract money at #3 and plays for the team he wants. But no trades happened at the top of the draft at all, for Bailey or anyone else. It's like the teams just picked who they wanted because it was all so uncertain. When Utah took him at #5 and Washington took Tre Johnson at #6, I thought for sure a swap was imminent because it would make more sense, but it never took place.
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Thank you!! I appreciate all your posts
 
Bolden scored the first basket and then badly misses a 3. Stewart scores on a jumper and then steals the ball and takes it all the way for a contested layup.
 
AGDukesky said:
Bolden scored the first basket and then badly misses a 3. Stewart scores on a jumper and then steals the ball and takes it all the way for a contested layup.
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Steward shows a good ability to get in the paint and finish shots with touch and through contact - in the first quarter of this game alone - and he’s a decent shooter. That’s probably why he continues to dance around the fringes of NBA rosters. The fact that there are players with greater height and/or strength (and therefore ability to defend) that can do the same is probably why his place remains among the fringe, and not a guaranteed 1-2 year contract/roster spot. Players his size probably need to be exceptional shooters and/or solid distributors to jump up a tier.
 
Steward looks really smooth. He hasn’t missed a shot including a three and 3-3 from the line for 14 points. Obviously not all NBA quality defenders but he looks like a guy who could help a team.
 
The other fun part of Summer League is when the rules of the game get modified. The Spurs may have lost their first game in San Francisco, but they did provide us with the first two players to go to 7 fouls or beyond when Carter Bryant picked up 7 and Osaye Osifo picked up 9 in only 17 minutes. The Sixers wanted to make sure that excessive fouling would also happen in Utah and Adem Bona did his part with 8 fouls.
 
awhom111 said:
The other fun part of Summer League is when the rules of the game get modified. The Spurs may have lost their first game in San Francisco, but they did provide us with the first two players to go to 7 fouls or beyond when Carter Bryant picked up 7 and Osaye Osifo picked up 9 in only 17 minutes. The Sixers wanted to make sure that excessive fouling would also happen in Utah and Adem Bona did his part with 8 fouls.
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Yayy, Awhom!!
 
brevity said:
It's an annual challenge that I silently issue to DBR's Windy City-based members: make me care about the Chicago Bulls this summer.

View attachment 20292

We'll start with 2025 draft picks Noa Essengue and Lachlan Olbrich, and 2024 pick Matas Buzelis. Local fans who pay attention to mock drafts might be excited that Essengue dropped from about #8 to the Bulls at #12, just as Buzelis dropped from about #5 to #11 last year. And I've mentioned more than once that Olbrich played for head coach Justin Tatum, Jayson's father, as the Illawarra Hawks beat Melbourne United to win the 2025 NBL title in Australia.

The undrafted rookies include Caleb Grill and Wooga Poplar, but if they were big enough draws, I would have watched more of Missouri and Villanova last season. (Poplar, who transferred from Miami to Villanova, is the closest thing this roster has to an ACC player.)

Then there's Josh Primo, who made his pro debut in 2021. To Duke fans, the premise is familiar: one-and-done player, age 18.5 years, gets picked in the lottery and becomes the youngest rookie in the NBA. But the similarities end there. Just 4 games into his 2nd season, he was waived by San Antonio after ESPN reported "multiple alleged instances of him exposing himself to women", including the Spurs' sports psychologist.

I don't know if I have a blanket policy when it comes to second chances, but (1) I believe privately-owned businesses can do what they want, keeping in mind that certain decisions can alienate their customers; and (2) this isn't Primo's second chance. It's his third or fourth; Basketball Reference lists his employment transactions, and he's been waived 3 times before his 22nd birthday.

July 29, 2021: Drafted by the San Antonio Spurs in the 1st round (12th pick) of the 2021 NBA Draft.

August 11, 2021: Signed a multi-year contract with the San Antonio Spurs.

October 28, 2022: Waived by the San Antonio Spurs.

September 29, 2023: Signed a two-way contract with the Los Angeles Clippers.

September 29, 2023: Suspended by the league. (4-game suspension)

November 15, 2023: Converted from a two-way contract to a regular contract by the Los Angeles Clippers.

April 13, 2024: Waived by the Los Angeles Clippers.

October 3, 2024: Signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Chicago Bulls.

October 3, 2024: Waived by the Chicago Bulls.

That last one is mostly procedural: Primo got waived by the parent Bulls to then play for their G-League affiliate last season, but according to RealGM, it looks like became a free agent a few days later. So this seems like his fourth chance, but since the Bulls are his third franchise, I could accept the argument that it's still his third chance.

Primo was never prosecuted for those indecent exposure charges -- according to local TV station KSAT, the District Attorney said there was insufficient evidence -- so that 11-month limbo away from basketball was the extent of his punishment.

Well, okay. You won't find a person on DBR less interested in moralizing than me, but at the same time, based on the information I have, I feel disinclined to root for his comeback.
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How stupid, in all ways, do you have to be to torpedo a possible NBA career by waving your weinr at multiple women?
 
AGDukesky said:
Steward looks really smooth. He hasn’t missed a shot including a three and 3-3 from the line for 14 points. Obviously not all NBA quality defenders but he looks like a guy who could help a team.
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He needs to tighten up his handle. Nothing he can do about his size, but he looks very confident and smooth with his shot.
 
brevity said:
Summer League games in San Francisco and Salt Lake City start today. From a Duke perspective, Marques Bolden, Kyle Filipowski, and DJ Steward are expected to be in action.
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I probably should have mentioned that Cedric Coward would be there as well, in Utah with the Memphis Grizzlies. But with him not medically cleared yet, we know he won't be in action.

Thanks to all of you who chimed in during and after the first set of games on Saturday. Please keep it up. I saw some of it live, but not nearly enough to form any opinions.


Heat 82, Spurs 69 (recap, box score, highlights)

Low level of interest. No Duke players here, and we already know that Dylan Harper (groin) is sitting out the California Classic, maybe literally sitting on one of those inflatable donut-shaped cushions. I'm guessing; groin injuries are one of those things you don't want to research further.

#20 pick Kasparas Jakučionis can enjoy the win for Miami despite a poor individual performance. He scored 3 points (1-7 FG, 0-4 3PT, 1-2 FT) and added a rebound and an assist. Pelle Larsson led with Heat with 18 points, but most of those points came at the line, where he was 10-11.

#14 pick Carter Bryant started for San Antonio and had a mediocre debut: 7 points (3-8 FG, 1-6 3PT), 5 rebounds, 1 assist. He did better than 2nd year pro and former Tar Heel Harrison Ingram, who also started and had 3 points on 1-7 shooting. To their credit, every healthy Spurs player saw the court; other teams have a lot of DNPs.


Warriors 89, Lakers 84 (recap, box score, highlights)

Marques Bolden was Golden State's starting center; he had 8 boards but just 2 points (1-5 FG, 0-3 3PT).

DJ Steward started in LA's backcourt and made the most of it: 20 points (7-10 FG, 1-1 3PT, 5-5 FT), 2 rebounds, 6 assists, and a steal. UNC's RJ Davis came off the bench for 2 points on 1-7 shooting.



Grizzlies 92, Thunder 80 (recap, box score, highlights)

#48 pick Javon Small scored 4 points as a reserve in his debut. Main roster players GG Jackson and Jaylen Wells led with 20 apiece. Chapel Hill lifer Armando Bacot had 9 points, mostly at the foul line, as the starting center. Efton Reid III scored his first 2 points as a pro.

Notable opening statements for #44 pick Brooks Barnhizer (9 points, 13 rebounds) and 2024 injured lottery pick Nikola Topić (14 points, 4 assists, 2 steals). #15 Thomas Sorber did not play; he's probably still recovering from his foot injury.


Jazz 93, Sixers 89 (recap, box score, highlights)

The SLC Summer League games are being played on the University of Utah's home court rather than the Jazz's arena.

Kyle Filipowski got the win and led with 22 points (8-11 FG, 2-4 3PT, 4-4 FT), along with 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and a block. #5 pick Ace Bailey shot 3-13 in the field, finishing with 8 points and 7 boards.

The #3 pick said to the NBA, "Welcome to VJ Edgecombe." He had 28 points, 10 rebounds, and 4 assists in his first pro game. Keep in mind that it was a very inefficient scoring performance: 13-27 FG, 1-7 3PT, 1-3 FT. That kind of usage is bound to make Bailey jealous.

There was a pretty good transition play in which Utah's Isaiah Collier got the defensive rebound and made a needle-threading pass to an open Filipowski. Start watching the highlight video below at around the 4:45 mark:

 
It got a little stormy here in Louisiana, so the New Orleans Pelicans ran out of leisurely outdoor excuses and finally finished their Summer League roster.

pelicans2025.jpg
(source)

I've already given my local team grief for practically giving away a likely 2026 lottery pick to move up 10 spots in this year's draft, so now let's just see if adding #13 pick Derik Queen to #7 pick Jeremiah Fears was a good idea at all, whatever the cost. I am curious about #40 pick Micah Peavy; I question his shooting, but his defensive capabilities can be really intriguing, especially if he gets time to work with Jose Alvarado and Herb Jones.

To the relief of Wolverine and Jayhawk fans everywhere, Old Man Hunter Dickinson is finally out of eligibility, and signed a two-way contract as an undrafted free agent. Each NBA team has three such contracts to work with, and returning pros Trey Alexander and Lester Quiñones hold the other two.

Fittingly, on a team that has Trey Murphy and now Trey Alexander, there's a third: Trey Townsend, who combined with Jack Gohlke at Oakland for 49 points and a shocking upset of Kentucky in the first round of 2024 NCAA Tournament. Expect an awkward handshake with new summer teammate Antonio Reeves, who was the losing side of that game.

The ACC is represented by Clemson's Chase Hunter. Maybe he'll have an awkward handshake with Christian Shumate, who played for McNeese and helped end Hunter's season with an authoritative dunk in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1902837833338941576
 
The Sacramento Kings have a Summer League roster but no graphic, and there's not a lot of inspiration there. Actors turned California governors? Too political. A young Jared McCain? Too confusing -- the Sactown native plays for Philadelphia. That leaves me with 2017's Lady Bird, the only film I can think of that's set in the state capital. (If you go, the tourism site Visit California suggests exploring Sacramento with a Lady Bird tour.)

kings2025.jpg

Because the Kings decided to draft an injured Devin Carter over hometown hero McCain with the #13 pick in 2024, this will be his Summer League debut, something he'll share with 2025 selections Nique Clifford (Colorado State) and Maxime Raynaud (Stanford; he's the lone ACC player).

Also being welcomed into the NBA are undrafted rookies Dylan Cardwell (Auburn), Patrick McCaffery (Butler), and Jabri Abdur-Rahim (who, like Carter, played for Providence, though they did not overlap). Jabri's father, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, finished his pro career in Sacramento.
 
brevity said:
DJ Steward started in LA's backcourt and made the most of it: 20 points (7-10 FG, 1-1 3PT, 5-5 FT), 2 rebounds, 6 assists, and a steal. UNC's RJ Davis came off the bench for 2 points on 1-7 shooting.
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I mentioned this on the latest edition of the podcast but the sliding doors stuff on DJ and RJ is really striking.

DJ is hoping to earn a training camp invite or maybe a 2-way deal. RJ already has a 2-way deal with the Lakers and assuming they give him the whole season to show what he can do, he's probably going to earn more money this year than DJ Steward has in his entire 4 year pro career. Of course, RJ earning more than DJ is not an unusual thing as one of them has been raking in UNC NIL dollars (I'd estimate north of $5 mil in earnings over the past 4 years for RJ) while the other has been toiling in the G-League (less than $100k per year) aside from half a year on a 2-way last season.

DJ and RJ were in the same high school class and were both freshmen at the same time at Duke and UNC. DJ was better as a freshman - 13ppg in 30mpg for DJ while RJ was getting 8ppg in 22mpg at UNC. DJ chose to turn pro, went undrafted and has been bouncing around the G-League every since. RJ stuck around UNC and became one of the top players in college basketball. I'm not saying 1 game of summer league is definitive, but if you want to argue that DJ is still better than RJ (despite a massive difference in earnings and "fame" over the past several years) this game is a good argument for you.

Sigh...

brevity said:
Kyle Filipowski got the win and led with 22 points (8-11 FG, 2-4 3PT, 4-4 FT), along with 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and a block.
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Flip's performance is what happens when a legit NBA player spends time in summer league. Kyle averaged 14.8ppg and 8.5rpg over the final 2 months of the season last year and was a consistent part of the Jazz rotation all year. I won't be surprised if they have him pack it up and go home after a few summer league games. There's really little for him to prove or work on in summer league.

brevity said:
The #3 pick said to the NBA, "Welcome to VJ Edgecombe." He had 28 points, 10 rebounds, and 4 assists in his first pro game. Keep in mind that it was a very inefficient scoring performance: 13-27 FG, 1-7 3PT, 1-3 FT. That kind of usage is bound to make Bailey jealous.
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You kinda need to see some of the buckets he scored (note that Flip was trying to stop him at times)... VJ WOW!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1941705442247246235

The sequence at about the 1:45 mark where he blocks a shot at one end and scores an "and one" at the other is darn impressive.
 
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