Two days after Stephen Curry was throwing alley-oop passes to LeBron James in the desert during Team USA’s tuneup game against Canada, many of the players still hoping to make their mark in the NBA will tip off the Las Vegas Summer League.
The Pelicans are one of 14 teams in action Friday. They will face the Minnesota Timberwolves, whose Summer League team will feature Rob Dillingham, the scoring-minded guard Minnesota traded up to draft at No. 8 last month.
Here is everything you need to know about the Summer League Pelicans.
Players to watch
There were seven NBA rookies who had multiple 30-point games last season. Former top-five picks Victor Wembanyama, Brandon Miller, Chet Holmgren and Scoot Henderson all did it.
Quietly, so did Jordan Hawkins, who was the No. 14 selection in the draft a year ago.
Hawkins showed plenty of promise in his first year before falling out of the Pelicans’ rotation during the home stretch of the season. The 22-year-old shooting guard, who hit 3s at a 36.6% rate on almost five attempts per game, will headline New Orleans' Summer League roster.
Hawkins could share backcourt minutes with Antonio Reeves, whom the Pelicans traded into the second round in the June draft to acquire. Reeves, a Chicago native, was a five-year college player. He averaged 20.2 points in his final season at Kentucky. He’s an accurate outside shooter who demonstrated great touch on floaters.
In the frontcourt, the Pelicans will rely on Yves Missi, the 21st selection in last month’s draft, and Karlo Matkovic, a second-round pick in 2022. Missi is athletically gifted but a relative newcomer to the game — he started playing organized basketball four years ago — and needs all the game experience he can get. Matkovic spent time with the G League Birmingham Squadron last season. He could get a two-way contract this season.
Who’s coaching?
The Pelicans hired Aaron Miles to work on coach Willie Green’s staff last summer Miles, a standout college point guard at Kansas who has coaching experience with two championship organizations — the Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics — will lead New Orleans’ Summer League squad.
Before they worked together in New Orleans, Miles and Green overlapped in Golden State. Miles did four years with the Warriors organization, including a two-year stint as the coach of the team’s G League affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors.
Miles then went to work as an assistant with the Boston Celtics. He worked under Ime Udoka and Joe Mazzulla.
Miles was a four-year starter at Kansas in the early 2000s. He helped the Jayhawks reach consecutive Final Fours in 2002 and 2003. He remains Kansas’ all-time assists leader.
Schedule
Game 1: Pelicans vs. Timberwolves, 4 p.m. Friday, ESPN2
Game 2: Pelicans vs. Magic, 6:30 p.m. Sunday, NBA TV
Game 3: Pelicans vs. Spurs, 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, NBA TV
Game 4: Pelicans vs. Grizzlies, 5 p.m. July 18, NBA TV
Game 5: Pelicans vs. TBD