Key takeaways from Wednesday’s NBA Summer League games in Las Vegas

Day 4 of the Las Vegas Summer League had a little bit of everything on Wednesday. We saw a double overtime thriller between the Miami Heat and the Memphis Grizzlies that went to sudden death and a matchup between the No. 3 overall pick and No. 5 overall pick.

The NBA Summer League is a great place to not only see the 2021 rookie class, but also the 2020 rookie class, which made a lot of noise this past season in the association. Below we’ll take a look at a few of the takeaways from Wednesday’s action that you might’ve missed.

Strus calls game against the Grizz

The Miami Heat entered the Las Vegas Summer League without a first or second round pick from last month’s draft on their roster. However, that hasn’t stopped other players, who are looking to make enough plays to force their way onto the roster.

One of those players is Max Strus, who played with the Heat in the California Classic earlier this month and had 27 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field and 5-of-11 shooting from three-point range. Strus continued his hot shooting on Wednesday against the Grizzlies as he scored 32 points (9-22 FG, 7-17 3pt) in a sudden death double overtime victory.

Strus was on a two-way contract with the Heat this past season and just re-signed with Miami for a two-year deal worth $3.5 million. If Strus can play with this type of confidence this upcoming season, then Miami just got that much more scarier with him and Duncan Robinson on the perimeter.

Knicks’ McBride shines off the bench in win over Lakers

While all the attention has been on how well New York Knicks second-year point guard Immanuel Quickley has played in the Summer League, Miles McBride made sure to give Knick fans something else to talk about on Wednesday night.

The rookie out of West Virginia stepped up off the bench for New York as the team’s second leading scorer in their 91-82 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. McBride was efficient from the perimeter, scoring 22 points on a perfect 6-of-6 from three-point range. I know its only summer league, but the Knicks might’ve found themselves a steal in McBride.

GP2 takes flight against the Raptors

Golden State Warriors guard Gary Payton II had one of the most ridiculous dunks we’ve seen in the Summer League thus far. The son of the Hall of Fame point guard came down the lane and threw down a filthy one-handed slam that woke up the arena.

Raptors rookie Dalano Banton was caught in the wrong place and Payton did not care who was in his way towards the basket. The electrifying dunk also caught the attention of LeBron James, who was also watching the game like the rest of us.

Final scores

Bucks 91, Nets 97
Heat 97, Grizzlies 94
Cavaliers 94, Magic 84
Thunder 65, Pelicans 80
Raptors 84, Warriors 90
Jazz 81, Mavericks 80
Knicks 91, Lakers 82