More Top NBA Summer League Standouts: Rising Stars in Las Vegas

We're more than a week into the Las Vegas Summer League, and we've seen some fascinating performances. This is the time of year for youngsters to showcase their talents and for veterans to secure an elusive contract. It's an intriguing mixture of young players and older guys, so we're going to showcase some standout performances!

Top Performances from Las Vegas Summer League

Cam Spencer, Grizzlies

Spencer managed to log 25 regular-season appearances with the Grizzlies after making the club following his second-round selection two Junes ago, but he averaged just 10.1 minutes per contest while buried down the backcourt depth chart. Nevertheless, the UConn product, who was a 41.7% 3-point shooter during his three-school college tenure, flashed some raw potential with a 35.8% success rate from deep last season. He then capitalized on 27.6 minutes per game in Vegas to average 17.8 points (37.9% from downtown), 3.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists in preparation for a potential role expansion in Year 2 as a key complementary source of scoring off the Memphis bench.

Chris Livingston, Bucks

A second-round pick out of Kentucky in 2023, Livingston has found regular-season playing time hard to come by over his first two NBA seasons, averaging just 4.7 minutes overall while appearing in 21 games apiece. This was therefore a key Summer League opportunity for the versatile wing, and Livingston answered the call with 20.8 points on 49.2% shooting, including 38.1% from deep, 5.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists. While Milwaukee remains replete with veterans and added another in Gary Harris this offseason, Livingston's performance, coupled with a pair of impressive G League seasons with the Wisconsin Herd, could be enough to help him carve out a bigger role in his third season.

Ja'Kobe Walter, Raptors

Walter already began teasing his considerable potential last season following his selection with the 19th overall pick in the 2024 draft, as he filled a solid rotational role that afforded him 21.2 minutes per game and 18 starts. That gave the Baylor product plenty of seasoning, and it's paid off this summer in the form of 15.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.5 steals per contest. Walter and his squad still have a semifinal matchup against the Kings on Saturday afternoon and a potential championship clash with either the Hornets or Thunder on their Summer League docket, giving the talented wing up to two more possible opportunities to continue honing his craft ahead of his second season.

Ajay Mitchell, Thunder

Mitchell opened some eyes with a blistering 49.5% success rate from the floor as a rookie, including 38.3% from behind the arc, for the defending champs. The second-round pick out of UC Santa Barbara impressively earned himself 16.6 minutes per game in his first season and even logged double-digit minutes on four occasions in the postseason, and he's gone on to put up 20.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.7 steals across three Summer League games. Mitchell's shot didn't get swept up in the Thunder's championship euphoria either, as the second-year pro came has carried over the hot hand from his first season by draining 51.4% of his attempts in Vegas going into Saturday evening's semifinal matchup against the Hornets. 

KJ Simpson, Hornets

Mitchell figures to see plenty of Simpson, a fellow second-year guard, during that Summer League playoff matchup, and the latter, who had an even bigger rookie role on the non-contending Hornets, has been lighting it up in the desert as well. Following a productive three-year run at Colorado, Simpson saw 23.4 minutes per game over 36 contests in Charlotte as a rookie, averaging 7.8 points, 3.1 assists and 3.0 rebounds. His 34.6% shooting had plenty of room for improvement, and Simpson has seemingly taken that to heart this summer by averaging 19.3 points on a 47.3% success rate from the floor (37.0% from beyond the arc). He's added 5.5 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 1.5 steals per contest, and he'll have at least one more opportunity to build momentum ahead of training camp and preseason.

Kel'el Ware, Heat

Ware is another incoming NBA sophomore who already enjoyed the foundation of a robust sample size of minutes as a rookie. In Ware's case, he took over the Miami's starting center job in the latter portion of January and ended up seeing 64 games of action overall, giving the seven-footer ample opportunity to showcase his rebounding and shot blocking. Ware had already put some impressive play on film in Vegas last summer, and before being shut down this year, he provided 17.3 points, 10.0 rebounds, 1.7 blocks and 1.3 steals across 28.9 minutes in three games, with the benefit of the run he received in his first season clearly on display.