Right after the tipoff of the Thunder’s Summer League opener, Josh Giddey, the team’s top draft pick, set up the offense from the top of the key. He was being guarded by first overall pick Cade Cunningham of the Detroit Pistons. After a few dribbles, the Thunder’s top Jersecond round pick—Jeremiah Robinson-Earl—set a screen on Cunningham as Giddey moved quickly to his right and then into the empty lane area.
Giddey quickly flushed a dunk as a Piston defender rotated too slow to stop him. Oklahoma City was out to a quick 2-0 lead and the Australian point forward appeared to be the steal of the draft.
⚡️ @joshgiddey gets his first Summer League points with the drive and dunk! #NBASummer pic.twitter.com/YgYa8BXHXz
— NBA Australia (@NBA_AU) August 9, 2021
This concludes the highlights of the Thunder’s Summer League experience.
Within a couple of minutes of this, Giddey turned his ankle, and a couple of minutes after that, he checked out, never to return. His final line of the 2021 Summer League was two points on three shots, five minutes of playing time, and a seven-point deficit for the team. He registered no other stats, and apart from that single flash at the beginning did nothing more to justify Sam Presti’s confidence in selecting him with the sixth pick of the draft.
Before going any further, it is probably important to point out that Summer League is nothing more than an opportunity for young NBA players and wannabe NBA players to work on their basketball skills during the off-season. Historically, players who have struggled in Summer League play have gone on to have fantastic NBA careers and players that have put up fantastic numbers have washed out of the league. While score is kept, the wins and losses have less significance than preseason scrimmages. It is silly to assign any significance to what happens in Las Vegas, it should stay in Vegas.