While the national teams are preparing for the Olympics, and free agency is slowly coming to an end, the game has already partly resumed on the NBA courts. Before the main league in Las Vegas from July 12 to 22, the first two Summer Leagues of the offseason ended on Wednesday, those of California and Salt Lake City. Who shone? Which teams won? Did the French show themselves? Overview of the first dribbles of the season.
Hornets, Warriors undefeated in California, OKC, Utah lead in Salt Lake
While the rankings are not of great interest in Summer League and will be quickly forgotten, they offer a snapshot of play in often slack periods. But also a few victories for teams that are largely deprived of them the rest of the season. This is the case of the Hornets, undefeated in three games in California including two wins: +32 against the Spurs and +31 against a Chinese A' selection. At “home” while the tournament was divided between San Francisco and Sacramento, the Warriors also made 3 out of 3, winning the Mitch Richmond Trophy in the process for having beaten the Kings, the two main franchises of the former member of Run TMC.
Your 2024 Battle of NorCal Champions & inaugural winners of the Mitch Richmond Trophy @Carmax || California Classic pic.twitter.com/jbqkIHZU70
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) July 11, 2024
No clean sheet in Salt Lake City, however, but still a first place shared by the Jazz, who finished with a 2-1 record. The Thunder did the same, in a competition where five of the six games were played by ten points or less.
Keyonte George blazes, Bronny James uneven
The level of the matches was, as is often the case, quite uneven. But some players took advantage of playing time to show themselves. Jazz had thus mobilized a large part of what will be its squad next season. Keyonte George was brilliant with two outings at 30 and 31 points (but at 39% shooting), showing himself to be very aggressive (more than 15 free throws per game!) and well above the rest. The sample was small, but it is also valid for Zach Edeywho only played one game with the Grizzlies but the Canadian had largely dominated Walker Kessler (14 points, 15 rebounds, 4 blocks). The future Memphis rookies stood out since Jaylen Wells39th pick in the last Draft, showed some encouraging signs (14.5 points, 6.5 rebounds), like his buzzer-beater against Philadelphia.
In California, other beginners have done the job like Kel'el Ware with the Heat (19 points, 8.5 rebounds, 3 blocks on average in two games) or the future teammate of Victor Wembanyama with the Spurs, Stephon Castle. The former Connecticut guard has not really reassured on his outside shooting (20% from afar), but his activity and his work in defense are already obvious. Attraction of the Lakers, Bronny James was faithful to his NCAA season with USC: almost non-existent in attack (3.5 points at 25%, 0/4 from distance in 25 minutes on average) but promising defensively, with three blocks and two interceptions in his second game Wednesday against the Heat. His partner Dalton Knecht was also out of order (14.7 points but at 30.2%).
Among the names that could return during the season, the Warriors could entrust their last spot in a “two-way contract” to the guard Ethan Thompsonalready prominent in the G-League these last two seasons. The 25-year-old player was impressive in his ease of scoring (20.7 points at 57.9%, 43.8% at 3-pointers, with 6.7 rebounds and 2.7 steals).
Ousmane Dieng leader of Thunder, Tidjane Salaün preserved
There were a total of eight French players involved in this first round of Summer Leagues. The only ones playing in the Salt Lake City tournament, Ousmane Dieng was the most efficient and responsible Tricolore. The MVP of the last G-League final finished as the tournament's best passer (six assists on average), showing all his versatility and ability to create play.
The other French players had only limited playing time. Tidjane Salaün was even completely preserved by the Hornets after his minor ankle injury. His former teammate last season at Cholet, Neal Sakohowever, took full advantage of his limited minutes, finishing 5th best rebounder in the California Summer League (8 rebounds in 15 minutes).
- Sidy Cissoko (San Antonio Spurs): 6 points, 5 rebounds in 20 minutes (2 games)
- Mohamed Diarra (Los Angeles Lakers): 1 point, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 blocks in 14 minutes (one game)
- Ousmane Dieng (Oklahoma City Thunder): 15.7 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 1.7 blocks on average in three games.
- Lucas Dufeal (Sacramento Kings): 2.7 points, 1.7 rebounds, 1.3 blocks in 6 minutes (three games)
- Yves Pons (Sacramento Kings): 1 point, 0.5 rebound, 1 assist, 1 block in 12 minutes (two games)
- Neal Sako (Miami Heat): 3 points, 8 rebounds in 15 minutes (two games)
- Tidjane Salaün (Charlotte Hornets): did not play
- Armel Traoré (Los Angeles Lakers): 6.3 points, 4.7 rebounds in 14 minutes (three games)
