In their first Las Vegas Summer League game, the Oklahoma City Thunder fall to the Houston Rockets in a close, 90-88 loss.
Overall, this was one of the more fun and competitive games for the Thunder since the beginning of Summer League. With that said, the results of the games don’t really matter — it’s all about how the young players individually look.
For the Thunder, Josh Giddey and Chet Holmgren had their moments while Jalen Williams continues to be arguably the most impressive rookie so far in Summer League.
Let’s take a look at player grades for some of the more noteworthy games.
Chet Holmgren: C+
The moneymaker for this game centered around the matchup between No. 2 pick Chet Holmgren and No. 3 pick Jabari Smith Jr.
By the end of the game, it’s fair to say that it was a draw as both players struggled to score on offense and were phenomenal on defense.
For Holmgren, he finished with 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting that included going 3-of-7 around the rim.
Holmgren had a better second half that included a stretch of three of his four blocks coming in two minutes, but he was never really able to get comfortable with the ball.
Credit to Smith Jr. for making Holmgren’s life tough whenever he matched up against him and had the ball, outside of one hook shot, Holmgren wasn’t able to generate anything positive for the Thunder.
Josh Giddey: B-
Surprisingly enough, Josh Giddey played his fourth consecutive Summer League game after playing three in three straight days.
Just like the first three, Giddey continues to show he is too good to be playing these games. Giddey finished with 14 points on 6-of-15 shooting, eight assists and four rebounds in 29 minutes.
There were a couple of late-game blunders on Giddey’s part such as a turnover off of his teammate’s foot and a missed full-speed layup that would’ve tied the game up, but overall, he played well.
The only criticisms involved the last two possessions of Giddey’s that resulted in a turnover and miss and helped the Rockets win, but that’s just how basketball goes sometimes.
Giddey also was a bit sloppy with the ball as he finished with five turnovers. That’s something that needs to be cleaned up but Giddey generally has nice ball security.
Giddey mentioned after the game that he’ll talk to the Thunder about potentially playing more Summer League, but considering he’s played the first four already, don’t be shocked to hear that he’s done for the rest of the way.
Jalen Williams: A
Jalen Williams continues to impress in Summer League as he finished with 15 points on an efficient 7-of-12 shooting and five rebounds.
In four Summer League games, Williams has averaged 13.8 points on 56.4 percent shooting.
The 21-year-old has definitely shown his age as he is on the older side of the rookie spectrum, which means he’s closer to a finished product than most rookies.
Williams’ cutting ability has enamored the fanbase as it adds more winkles to the Thunder offense if one of the guards can be an off-ball threat that can’t be unaccounted for during half-court possessions.
Aaron Wiggins: B
Aaron Wiggins had a strong start with scoring 8 of the team’s first 11 points. For the entire game, Wiggins finished with 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting.
Wiggins’ outside shot looked more natural this game than it did last season. Hopefully that’s a sign of things to come for Wiggins as adding a respectable outside shot would raise his chances of sticking in the league significantly.
Tre Mann: D
This was not the best Tre Mann game as he finished with 10 points on 1-of-13 shooting and four rebounds.
The only saving grace was Mann’s ability to get to the line as he went 8-of-9 from the charity stripe.
Mann recently returned from health and safety protocols, so maybe he’s still working out rust. Either way, while it hasn’t been the best Summer League for Mann, he had a strong enough finish to his rookie season to not cause too much panic.
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