Nique Clifford, Sacramento Kings
A first-round pick praised in the predraft process for his versatility, Clifford put all of that—and his improved outside shooting—on display in Sin City. This was no-category-left-untouched levels of stat-sheet stuffing, as he averaged 18.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.8 blocks while shooting 58.3 percent overall and 9-of-17 (52.9 percent) from range.
David Jones-Garcia, San Antonio Spurs
The leading scorer at the California Classic, Jones-Garcia kept shredding nets upon the league’s shift to Las Vegas. And it wasn’t just volume (though, at 21.3 points per game in Vegas, there was plenty of that), but this was efficient bucket-getting at that (51.7/50/90 shooting slash). Throw in his 6.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.5 steals, and he was knocking on the door of first-team honors.
Ajay Mitchell, Oklahoma City Thunder
Mitchell, last summer’s 38th pick, was ahead of schedule before summer league started by virtue of finding actual floor time for the championship banner-raising Thunder. If his Sin City efforts were any indication, though, he might be headed toward more fast-forwarding. He did a little of everything over his first three outings, pacing the club in points (20) while ranking second in both rebounds (6.0) and assists (4.3).
KJ Simpson, Charlotte Hornets
While certainly not the most-heralded player on the summer Hornets, Simpson still left the biggest statistical imprint on the undefeated (as of writing) bunch. His team-high 19.3 points looked even better when paired with his 47.3/37/78.9 shooting slash, and he filled out his stat line with 5.5 assists (against 2.5 turnovers), 4.0 rebounds and 1.5 steals.
A.J. Lawson, Toronto Raptors
This past season, Lawson, who went undrafted out of South Carolina in 2019, parlayed his two-way pact into a non-guaranteed deal for the upcoming season. Based on what he’s shown in Vegas, he might be worth keeping around. He’s been arguably the biggest catalyst behind Toronto’s dominant start (4-0 with a league-best plus-15.8 point differential), tallying a team-high 18.5 points (on 50/45.5/75.9 shooting) to go along with his 5.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.6 combined steals and blocks.
