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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 Sunday’s action that you might’ve missed.
Cam Thomas gets buckets
The Brooklyn Nets are going to be ecstatic with Thomas, who is showing a lot of teams what they passed on in the NBA draft. The guard is lighting up Las Vegas, going for 36 points in a 104-100 win over the San Antonio Spurs.
36 PTS
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) August 16, 2021
11-11 FT@24_camthomas has taken Vegas by storm pic.twitter.com/dK6IE7gShA
The efficiency isn’t great, but Thomas is only 19 and will be learning from some of the league’s greatest scorers in history. This dude is going to be a problem for a long time.
Corey Kispert dazzles for the Wizards
Kispert finished with 18 points in a 93-83 win over the Milwaukee Bucks, but the important thing was his three-point shooting. The Gonzaga forward went 4-7 from behind the arc and showed what he could provide for a Washington team looking to convince Bradley Beal to sign a long-term extension.
.@corey_kispert knocked down 4 threes on his way to 18 points in the win!#DCAboveAll | #NBASummer pic.twitter.com/jZVTlEO1Ru
— Washington Wizards (@WashWizards) August 15, 2021
Kispert hasn’t been shooting great overall in three games at Summer League (35 percent), but he’ll be a vital piece for Washington. The Wizards have surrounding Beal with a host of solid rotation players as part of the Russell Westbrook trade. Kispert is one of the few who has some upside as well.
Ayo Dosunmu, Ziaire Williams trending in opposite directions
In the last game of Sunday’s slate, two rookies showed out for different reasons.
Williams, taken No. 10 overall in a somewhat surprising move, is looking like a mistake at the moment. He’s not efficient offensively, especially from range. In fact, the Stanford product is shooting 38.0 percent from the floor and 20.0 percent from deep in four Summer League games. If he doesn’t improve offensively, this will be a huge miss for the Grizzlies.
Dosunmu isn’t exactly lighting up Summer League either, but he gets a little more leeway as a second-round pick. The Chicago native is looking good with the Bulls and should get minutes off the bench immediately. He’s hungry to prove teams wrong and he gets to it with his hometown team which looks to be headed to the playoffs after a strong offseason.