Sacramento Kings vs Cleveland Cavaliers LIVE ON ESPN 4K NBA2K26 Summer League NBA LIVE TODAY

Sacramento Kings vs Cleveland Cavaliers LIVE ON ESPN 4K NBA2K26 Summer League NBA LIVE TODAY

[Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. Hey, Heat. [Music] [Music] Hey. [Music] Hey. Hey. [Music] Happy [Music] Hey. Hey. Hey. [Music] [Music] Long one won’t go for Darius Brown. Offensive rebound for Cleveland. It stays here. Here’s Proctor in the pick and roll. Tristan and Aruna. Reo fighting for the rebound. It comes down to Clifford. When they got Rayo at 42 overall, that’s a steal in the draft. It was a steal. At the combine after he played on the first day, the thought process was, man, he might have done enough to move himself all the way up into the first round. And so when he fell a little bit and the Kings got him, I I I think the Kings had an outstanding draft. Reo called for the foul. Good start for him though. That really good start for him. And again, little dribble handoff action. Poor communication. Norad Omir has to switch onto the ball. And Reo can can play off the bounce. He can stretch the defense from beyond the three-point arc. He’s a guy that’s going to be in the NBA for a long time, I think. and maybe not as a star in the NBA, but as a rotational player that can help impact winning. And I think if you’re the Kings organization right now, that’s what you’re looking to try to build upon is you’ve got some star power. You need guys and depth that are going to help you elevate your franchise in a Western Conference that is absolutely loaded. And the Kings lost Jonas Valunis in the offseason. Drew Drew Eubanks comes in. They could still use some depth around Damasonus in the front court. Proctor hits both free throws. Isaiah Crawford gives it up to Devin Carter. Launches a three. Came up short. Didn’t get the roll. Reno on the clean up. Good look by Carter and Renault was one of the best off rebounders overall in college basketball last year. Double double machine for Kyle Smith at Stanford. Three balls. Pure Tyresese Proctor’s got all five for Cleveland. like to see his level of aggressiveness. I mentioned his poor shooting percentage so far here in Vegas just 30%. And that was a very confident good look for Tyrese Proctor from beyond the arc. The pressure from Darius Brown. Shot clock is all the way down to six for Clifford working on Proctor Clifford. That’s a crafty move, but shot rims out. Norad Omir at the five. He can give you this all the way to the hole. The move from Norad Omir. Yeah, Norad Omir has been an undersized big his entire life. I mean, big upper body strength and shoulder, but he brings versatility and plays much bigger than his 6’7 frame. And that versatility was on full display on that last possession, getting the rebound, being able to take the ball all the way up the floor, strong and balanced. I mean, he he has really good body control. He demonstrated that at Miami. He demonstrated that at Baylor last season where he was such a big part of what Scott Drew needed. Defensive 3 seconds against Cleveland. And Clifford ties the game at seven. You know, for Sacramento with the 3 and 0 record. We talked with our head coach Depes Mystery before the game. He said the identity we want to play with here in Vegas matches the identity of the big club. On offense, they’re looking to get shots at the rim, free throws, and open threes in the first 16 seconds of the shot clock. Once you get to the final eight seconds of the shot clock, a mid-range jumper is okay. But that’s kind of the NBA these days is those three categories. That’s every level of basketball. Go watch AAU basketball here in Vegas as this has been the epicenter that’s been so much discussed over the last 5 days. This is like how many teams are coming in from the youth level into Vegas, the college level. Everybody wants to be here in Las Vegas, but the the analytics breakdown and the the trick trickle down effect of analytics has truly disrupted almost every level of how you want to play. Tomlin gets his first two of the game. Good movement without the basketball and dribble penetration. Make a simple dump down. Clifford the hook pass. Raino well off on a three. Just that pass from Clifford, you can see he is so skilled. He throws strikes. That’s what his coach Mystery said. You know, the interesting thing about a guy like Nick Clifford is for a long time NBA teams were like a little hesitant like, oh, a little bit older, you know, five seasons in college basketball, is the age going to be an issue? It’s not an issue if you can come in and help a team win. And Meek Clifford can come in and help a team win. And he’s experienced. He understands exactly who he is, what he needs to do. Tomlin ducks under for two more. Dee Clifford is 23 years old. He’s ancient. He’s basically got his pension as Devin Carter comes over here. And Sean Farnum, he’s got the ball. I do have the ball. I’m trying to trying to give it back to the official though who’s in desperate need. That’s a good bounce pass. That’s good form. Yeah. Had to had to had to twirl it in a little bit. You could have had the seams lined up a little better. I could have say I’m sorry. The official wasn’t shot ready though. The 9-1 burst for Cleveland. They lead by four just over three minutes in. Proctor solid coast defense against Clifford. Here’s Reo dribbling right through Tyrese Proctor and the call is a block against Cleveland. I I like a lot of that though from Tyresese Proctor. I mean, just a really good job of walling up defensively against Nick Clifford and then really close positioning here to be able to absorb that and get the offensive foul, which is what he was trying to bait him into. Clifford around a couple of screens. Omir switched on to him. Clifford dumps it inside. Mismatch. Reo over that shoulder throwing it up with a left hand. He’s fouled and Maxim Reno heads to the line and nothing Brown could do there on that switch. Just overpowered and outmatched as far as size. at NBA minutes struggling to deal with Maxim Reno. And who wouldn’t at 7’1 20 and almost 11 boards last year at Stanford? Well, and maybe even more impressive was the efficiency and the positions that Kyle Smith really built the entire offense around him. 47% field goal percentage, 35% from deep. Those are big numbers for a guy with his size. And in today’s NBA, you’ve got to be able to pick and pop and utilize a different skill set to try to create even more space out on the floor. What does he need to improve to in the league? Strength. I mean, he’s not going to be an elite level athlete. That that’s not you’re not all of a sudden going to see a really super explosive Maxine Reno, but you’ve got to be able to develop strength and in particular in his lower body. Brown tried to bounce it. That ball is kicked by Crawford. 14 to shoot for Cleveland. When we return, just over 4 minutes in, the Cavs trying to hand the Kings their first loss here in Vegas. NBA 2K26 Summer League, is proudly sponsored by NBA 2K26, rated E for everyone. Hello. [Music] [Music] Heat. [Music] Heyoo. [Music] Hey. Hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] [Music] [Music] A de Rozan. You’ve seen that, right Sean? Yes. It’ll be an interesting season for the Kings. who were 40 and 42 last year. Finished ninth in the West. Lost to the Mavs in the playin. And you mentioned it early. The Western Conference is just loaded. They’re not going to have any nights off. It’s going to be difficult to move up even if the team’s better. I I think the team will be better, too. But I think the opportunity to move up is going to be more difficult because you also have to look at the other teams and the adjustments that they have made. In particular, a team like the San Antonio Spurs that were outside of the playoff mix figure to be in it this year. Jones gets the in one. Isaac Jones, who played 40 games for Sacramento last season, has a chance to give him a lead here. Two things that made that play. One is sprinting the floor with purpose, but the second one was the excellent pass. I mean, get the ball up the floor immediately and find an open man and make it simple on him. And that’s exactly what they did. And that’s what the Kings have done a nice job of over the course of their time here in Las Vegas. seventh in assist per game, second in field goal percentage overall, first in three-point field goal percentage. It’s It’s why they’re three and 0 right now. [Applause] You mentioned the Spurs. That’s a team that could go from outside the play to in the playoff picture as Brown missed it. Omrir with the offensive rebound. Naquan Tomlin loads up a three. Sticks it start. I mean like he has been on fire. 50% from beyond the ark headed into this afternoon. Jones right back at you for two. [Applause] He’s got five in a row for Sacramento. Isaac Jones three for three from the floor. Offensive foul. Ian Mlenny makes the call. One of our officials along with Brent Haskell and Carlos Peralta Ortega. We ran into Ben Taylor earlier. one of the best referees in the NBA. You’re like the mayor here after a couple of days. It surprises me how many people, you know, Ben Taylor did his first finals this year. Now he’s out here helping the uh helping the younger officials. But no, I mean really I kind of feel like that’s how you with me today. Like this is my first time doing a summer league game that you’re like you’re you know you’re just trying to help. I’m the old head now. The key if you want to be the mayor here, just hang out with Tom Crane for a few days and you’ll meet everybody. I saw his private jet leave yet last night actually. I I thought so too. Eric on the way out. Said TC on the tail. I thought that was his. Right. Here’s Tristan and Aruna the Flying Dutchman off the mark Tomlin. Naqucoin Tomlin doing it again. Nine points in the first quarter. And Tomlin’s last two baskets came off of offensive rebounds. one by Norad Omir that hit him on the spot up and then that time he did the work himself and got underneath. Carter finds a wideopen Jones comes up short on a corner three. Darius Brown keeps the eyes up, finds Tomlin who almost punctured the Thomas and Max center out of bounds off of him. Just a great job as this shot goes up. Nobody can box him out. He just wedged Carter right out of the way and finished. And this would have been fantastic instead. It’s just a entertaining miss. Style points. You don’t get a field goal made in the box score, but you do get some style points. You were on the call the other night with Fury, right? Yes. Well, I mean, thing is worth, we’re talking to Jim Beheim and we’re just having a conversation. All of a sudden, Johnny Fury throws down one of the best dunks in summer league history. That was crazy. Carter has another one. Rim out. He’s been close a couple of times. Kevin Carter now 0 for three overall. for two from three. Two-point Cavs lead. Brown the pocket pass to Kaden Shedric. Kick it out for Cheney Johnson through the lane and Jones boards it. Isaiah Stevens getting some first quarter action here. Two-way player, teammate of Nick Clifford for one year at Colorado State. Carter finds Dylan Cardwell out of Auburn. Daquin Plouden. Caldwell wasn’t ready for that pass. That was a nice look by Devin Carter. John Cardwell, another Auburn guy, along with a bunch of guys we’re seeing here in summer league, including Denver Jones playing for Cleveland. Look how hard Tomlin’s playing. I mean, every time you look up for Cleveland, Tomlin’s around the ball. Stevens with the steal. The trailer is Cardwell. Bounce it for Jones. Another deuce for Isaac Jones. He’s up to nine points. Talking about instant offense off the bench for the Sacramento Kings. Tomlin missed a three. There’s Brown collects it for Cleveland. Tomlin ball handler in the pick and roll here at 6’9. Kedrick scream was illegal. Hey, we’re going to talk to Maxim Reno on the other side of this break. You said he’s a good interview. He is. You’ll like him. I promise this melty white American cheese. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Thomas and Max Center here in Vegas. Kings and Cavs in the first quarter. It’s a pleasure to be joined now by the Kings rookie Maxim Reo. Maxim, thanks for doing this. Uh, first question for you. You missed the last game the Kings played and now you’re back. You don’t often see guys return from injury in summer league. A lot of the time they’ll shut it down. Why is it important for you to keep playing? Well, I mean, like we’re here to win a championship, right? I mean, they get a little ring at the end if we win all. We’re 3 and 0. We got to get another dub hopefully by 15 so we can guarantee a semi-final spot. So, yeah, we’re back. We’re trying to get wins. Saw you at the combine. You played the first day, shut it down, didn’t play the second day. What has what has been the developmental focus for you since you got drafted? Um, defensive end mostly, right? Like you just want to get some talk. Hopefully I can be the loudest guy out there. Uh, being able to be present on ball screen defense, maybe shot blocking a little bit. And then other than that, just being efficient, right? Like NBA players, you got to adjust to the level real fast. So that’s what I’ve been working on. Your coach said that even though you didn’t play last game, your communication was elite from the bench. How is that? Why is that important? If you’re a young basketball player and you’re watching, why is that such an important aspect? Well, first of all, control what you can control, right? Like energy and talk to like the very base level. And then on top of that on defense, especially as a big, you see everything the quarterback of the defense. And if you want to anchor it, you got to let everybody know screen left, screen right, pin down, go rebound, here, switch, red, everything. Uh that’s that’s just the basics, man. Max, do you find yourself ever speaking French? If you if like if you’re not thinking about it, do you just bark out a command in French and no one knows what you’re saying? All I’m gonna say is when there are terrible calls, the ref don’t speak French. That’s all I’m gonna say. You could get away with a little bit more. Yes, sir. Uh we noticed you wear a number 42. That is that was your pick in the draft. Is that why you were it? Absolutely not. I mean, when I came into Stanford, I wanted number 12. He was taken. Went number 21 was taken. 23 was taken. 41 was taken. I just asked my coach, I said, “Look, what do you have?” He say 42. I’m like, “All right.” Worried for four years in college. Won a European championship with it. Got drafted 42. It’s a full circle moment. What would it mean? You mentioned at the very top the availability to potentially win a championship here. What would that mean for this team, especially when you look at guys like Nick and Devin Carter, guys that you know you’re going to be with in Sacramento? Yeah. I mean, set the tone for next year, right? We have a lot of young guys here, a lot of agility guys also trying to make their way to the NBA. So, you want to be able to set the tone, show that you have winning quality, we like have winner mentality, um, and and get ready for the season, right? You want to be able to compete. Like, that’s what the NBA is about. you’re here to win games. So, showing that you can compete, showing that you can win, that’s that’s all that matters. In your early NBA experience here, what’s the biggest difference between this and the college game? Way faster, way more physical. Uh guys don’t miss as much. I mean, look at that. Look at that. Oh, okay. Never mind. But, uh, no, like honestly, it’s like you leave a guy wide open, he’s going to make it. Um, everybody is like in super good shape. Like, you need to be able to adjust to that level. 24 second shot clock, 3 second in the paint, all that. So, yeah, rules are different, intensity is different. What did you study at Stanford? Um, computer science and mathematics. How how hard of a major was that at Stanford? I mean, because the word Stanford for so many of us that ever played basketball, it’s scary to think about academics and yet you studied that and excelled at the level in which you did out on the court. Come on, TK. Good job. Sorry, my fault. Um, yeah. Uh, I don’t think, look, you can’t be scared of that. Uh, if something interests you and you’re willing to put the work in, you’ll be good. Um, I don’t think it’s much harder than any other university. I understand it’s more timeconuming. You got to be more committed. But I think that’s who I am as a person. I’m committed to my craft in basketball, in school, everywhere, in family. So that’s what I’m trying to do. That’s what the person I’m trying to be. Trying to be reliable. Trying to put in the work every single day. Well, keep it up, Max. This was awesome. Thanks for doing this. Keep doing your thing. Thank you for having me, man. Let’s win this game. I’m going to be at the free throw line shooting three. We You know, you see at least one of those in every summer league game. a fouled three-point shooter. It drives me crazy. Like from the time you first pick up a ball, right, and you start playing at a really competitive level, they always say, “Don’t foul a jump shooter.” And yet you see it every single game, almost at every single level, stepping in and just literally making contact. And and you give up an opportunity, which is a a contested three-point shot is a low percentage shot in a lot of cases. And then you allow a player to get to the free throw line and have three clean looks to knock down and manufacture some points for their team. It’s It’s a party foul. It’s like if you’re here in Vegas and you touch the cards, they’ll do that. Touch your chips, not the cards. Get kicked out. I’m going to break that down. That’s your first day here. Just make sure you remember that. Okay, man. Maxim Reno is an impressive dude. computer science and mathematics and he’s French. He’s a really good basketball player. They got a good one at Sacramento and culture matters. Look at what we saw from Oklahoma City this year and you know we see that the interview and all a sudden everybody from the team comes and everyone’s around like what you’re trying to what is the identity Sacramento’s looking to find in their culture. Maxim Reno fits that. Even now he’s screaming over there on the bench as Proster handles the ball gets it to Tomlin. He’s fouled and scores. And Naquin Tomlin continuing to carry the Cavaliers. Great dribble penetration late in the shot clock. A little hesitation blow by Tyrese Proctor. Movement without the ball. Tomlin is always in motion at the offensive end of the floor. If you leave space, he is cutting to it. And the Cavs have done a great job finding him. He’s got 13 points and five rebounds already. Offball movement so critical everywhere in the NBA, but especially in Cleveland. That’s one of the reasons they had the best offensive rating in the NBA this past year when they went 64 and 18. 5 seconds left in the quarter. Isaiah Stevens kicks it out. Tavon Kinsey short on a three. And we got ourselves a game all tied after one. Maxim Reno maybe the smartest guy here. Certainly smarter than we are. And he can hoop, too. Oh, look. I’m bottomless. Just like bottomless apps for $9.99. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Then on ESPN, Mavs and Sixers at 8 Eastern, followed by the Wizards and the Jazz. Drew Carter and Sean Farnum. Glad to be back with you at the Thomas and Mack. Tie game between Cavs and the Kings. Tyresese Proctor running the show. Jaylen Tyson out today for Cleveland. He’s been one of the best players here in Vegas. Out with a minor injury today. Precautionary. Four on the 24 for Proctor against Nick Clifford. The step back three ball comes up short. Offensive rebound Jackson Robinson. Robinson hasn’t seen a lot of minutes here in the summer league. Started at BYU, went to Kentucky, came off the bench, was a good scorer while at BYU this year. Had to play multiple roles for Mark Pope. Trying to get more comfortable with the ball in his hands. Daycoon Plouden who played a little bit for the Hawks last year. Clifford creating space. Cardwell the offensive rebound. That’s why he’s got a chance. His ability on the glass. Baseline drive. Kinsey fouled. Orthalic called for it. And Tavon Kinsey heads to the line. And Kinsey, you look at his profile again, some limited minutes here, you know, four points versus Orlando, five last time out against the Suns. But you go back to his college career and is Sunb Belt player of the year at Marshall, averaged 21, 22 points per game, shooting better than 54%. And he’s 25 years old and he’s trying to find his footing still in the league, aiming to secure probably a G-League contract. I think pretty realistic for him. Jiny, the all-time leading scoreer at Marshall, he broke John Elmore’s record. John Elmore on the bench playing for the Kings in this summer league. And I tell you one thing I guarantee the Kings talked about was shing up their defensive glass. They gave up nine offensive rebounds in the first quarter to the Cavs. That’s a lot. [Applause] Dylan Cardwell way upstairs. He can do that. Now he gets to that dunker spot and you know some of his stats and and why they look a little different is cuz he played with Janai Broom and so much of the offense went through them through him. But he works that back line very very well. These teams are now combined two for 23 shooting threes. Kings 0 for nine. Cavs two for 14. Clifford great finish and his skill set again. Get get a rebound. Get the ball. You You can have your forward bring the ball up the floor and initiate offense for you and be aggressive. Another illegal screen. Noradir called for it. And watch Clifford drive. Back line of the defense steps up. North Chad Omir turns around and said, “Uh-oh, I’m caught.” And then Clifford next time down the floor just as aggressive with the ball in his hands. his first made field goal this afternoon, but four assists already for the first round pick by the Sacramento Kings. Clifford came in averaging more than 18 points per game on better than 60% shooting overall. Seven for 10 from downtown and Tyreser’s doing a really good job being physical with him. Another great pass from Clifford finds the open man. Three ball won’t go for Kinsey. Tyresese Proctor with the rebound. Doing a little bit of everything for Cleveland. Seven points, a couple assists. Tyresese Proctor, three years at Duke, part of some really good teams. College coach John Shers on the sideline here. He’s not going to like that pass. The pickoff by Cloud and ahead to Kinsey for the dunk. 70 Kings run to start the second quarter. And Kings get after it. The turnovers to touchdowns. You talk about it all the time. Good defensive reaction in the help side. Run the floor, have your hands ready, and finish. The Kings are looking to stay perfect in Las Vegas. They’ve got a seven-point lead over the Cavs. Upset stomach. I bureau. Indigestion. I bureau. [Music] [Music] Hey honey. [Music] Hey. [Music] [Music] DB out of the downs. Get back home quicker so we don’t have to be in rotation early. Next one. Next one. Next one. You good? Get it back. He going to give us one, two. Keep guarding. Keep guarding. Now guarding the key point for the Cavs here in the start of the second quarter. A 7 nothing start for Sacramento. Well, it’s not guarding, it’s guarding. Keep goting. He’s from Australia. You didn’t put that one together yet. You were so smart. See, like earlier you talking about like Maxine Marino being the smartest guy in the gym. I mean you saying that I mean that indicates a next level intelligence by you. I can read a media guide. I can I got family in Australia. You do? Yeah. Must be nice. I’ve never been. Three ball is good. First points in the second quarter for Cleveland. To be fair, they moved in 1996 and I just I do want to go. Australia would be great vacation. Tyresese Proctor is, you know, one of many Aussies who’s playing in the summer league here. Johnny Fury, who we mentioned earlier, had a huge dunk playing for the Pacers the other day. Couple of big men. Lachlan Olrich playing. Yeah, we’ll see him a little bit later on with the Bulls uh against the Bucks. And he was a guy that kind of played his way into the combine. Started off at the G-League combine, then got added into the combine and showed very well there. 55th pick in the draft. not creating quite as much fanfare as last year’s 55th pick in the draft, but show us that Brownie Brownie. That’s right. Here’s Denver Jones. Another Auburn guy playing in front of Bruce Pearl. Good hands from Kinsey. The steal by Devin Carter. Pushing tempo. Carter’s fouled by Jones. Cleveland’s got sloppy with the basketball here a little bit. uh some o overdri penetration and careless passing. And Kings do a really good job of turning those defense uh turnovers that they create into applying pressure with the pace in which they’re playing with. Six turnovers for Cleveland. Sacramento’s got great numbers offensively. They’re also holding opponents below 42% from the field in this summer league as Isaiah Crawford draws a foul. And two two organizations in the NBA level that are in different places. I mean, Cleveland right now is looking at the Eastern Conference and coming off of last season going, why not us? Why not us have an opportunity to go to the finals and play for the NBA championship next season? And I think when you look at the Kings, they’re looking to try to solidify themselves and see if they can stay in that playin, but are are a little bit more of a longterm like looking to grow the organization and move up in the Western Conference. Now, Western Conference is loaded at the top, but there are some teams with age and age will age you out. And the Kings have some good young players that if they play the long game and they continue to develop will be very good. Goodness. Palata can fly. Saw that a lot of that at Oregon State. His head was on the rim. Yeah, he just floats. Jones gets two more. Isaac Jones playing extremely well. Five for six from the floor, 11 points. Isaac Jones, one of the best stories in summer league now. 25 years old out of Washington State. Played 40 games for the big club this season. started on a two-way and converted to a standard contract in March. Omrir off the mark. That was a grab by Jackson Robinson. Great pass and then Robinson fouls Kinsey. That’s that’s dangerous over there running full speed. A little grab by Robinson. Slowed up Kinsey, but then once Kinsey got that separation, he went to it. But Robinson was so close behind. He said, “Just throw it up to the rim. He’s going to run right through me. [Music] McKenzie back to the line. Spent the last couple years with the Salt Lake City stars of the G-League. Reminder that summer league action continues in Las Vegas on NBA TV, ESPN, and the ESPN app. Got Phoenix and Minnesota, Orlando and Brooklyn, New Orleans and Oklahoma City later today. And then tomorrow, Detroit against Miami. You look at a guy like Kinsey, it’s so hard to make the NBA level, you know, and for a lot of guys, you come here in Vegas, you play in the summer league. I was talking with a good friend of mine, Lorenzo Mada, who played at UCLA, and he played here in the summer league with the Los Angeles Lakers and then went on internationally to have an elongated career. Uh, but the moments are moments are precious to be part of of the NBA, right? I mean, it is the premier. It’s the top basketball you can play anywhere in the world. We all know that. But it is a very select club and not a lot of spots available. Great pass. Club 5,000. Carter hits it ahead. Kinsey climbing the ladder. Every time the Kings get their hands on the ball, they are looking to throw over the top of the defense and they’ve been really successful with it so far here in the second quarter. Another illegal screen on Cleveland. That’s four. And this is the King’s largest lead at eight. And tomorrow practice, we’re going to just jump stop and learn how to set screens. Watch Deon Carter head whips up immediately. And that ball is gone. And Kinsey leaks out a little bit and is the beneficiary of leaking out. And a good finish. But there are so many of these guys when you start looking at all of their attributes and Kinsey’s one of them. You look at all their stats and which they did in college. Man, this guy’s so good. But it is such a select group that gets to get there. And role definition is critical to you. Look at a guy like Kinsey. Scored more than 2600 points in college. Reo called for the illegal screen this time. But he’s not going to be a number one option in the NBA. At least not at the start. Kings have guys to do that. So, you go from being the superstar ball dominant player to a role player. And it’s so funny. We talk about role players in, oh, he’s going to be a role player at the combine. Oh, this gu could be a role player. He could be a rotational player. And and oh, that that’s disrespecting their game. No, it’s not. Being a role player, league doesn’t have that many superstars. It really doesn’t. We talk about them all the time, so it makes you feel like there is, but there really isn’t. There’s the the teams that win have guys that understand what their roles are and they perform to that that role on a consistent basis and allows their stars to be exactly what they are and Aruna with the inside finish. Now Carter looking to get free from Jackson Robinson. That’s a terrific move and a delay a game warning. A good job just driving baseline, reading the defense, gets that screen, hesitates just a little bit. That little lift of the ball froze everybody and allowed him to finish. Carter dropped 30 against the Bulls Saturday. It was a 17-point win for the Kings. Point differential is all important here. They beat the Magic by three, Bulls by 17, then the Suns by 18. Out of bounds, stays here. 11 to shoot. You mentioned the Kings offense and how efficient has been. And then you talked about their defense. How active have their hands been? I Cleveland’s done a really good job of trying to move without the ball in space like they have been, which is why they have the highest assist per game total so far here in Vegas. The problem’s been the Kings defense has been disruptive. Everybody’s hands are up. They’re communicating really well. And Darius Brown is not shy about shooting threes. Tomlin with the offensive rebound. He’s not shy about getting on the offensive glass. Yeah, he’s all over the place. Tomlin got six offensive rebounds. He’s got six rebounds, but all of them at the offensive end. 13 offensive rebounds for the team. There’s another one for Tomlin. And a tie up. No jump ball yet. And there it is. Isaac Jones taking an extra beat to get up. Somebody’s got to box out number 30 in white. I that the shot goes up and Tomlin immediately is looking to force the issue and get his hands on it. Two offensive rebounds on one trip down the floor. A total of seven offensive rebounds so far on the game. Seven offensive rebounds in a first half. That’s got to be close to a summer league record. Dave Frerieded. Come on, Dave. You don’t you haven’t been trick tracking that yourself for the last 20 plus years. Oh. Oh, he’s furiously typing. I just would search in Gemini. Use AI. It’s always trusted. Very, very reliable. Never wrong. Right. Dave Freed is scribbling something right now. I can already tell I’m not going to be able to zoom in on him, too. His handwriting will not be legible. I can already tell. He’s handed you a couple of sheets of paper and I you’ve asked me what it says and every time I’ve got it wrong. Malcolm Thomas 2013. 22 is most rebounds in a summer league game. 22 total rebounds. Thank you, Dave. We got that. Thank you, Dave. Maybe Tomlin could get there. He needs some defensive rebounds. He’s got seven offensive rebounds. Look at how comfortable the Kings are. What I love about what the Kings have done, by the way, is they they continue to stretch Nick Clifford. They want to see him in different roles. They inbound him, allow him to break the half court line. Eight-point lead for the Kings. Well, we got a we got a clock malfunction here. We just wanted to play some music for you because it’s not a stoppage in the game. It was a clock issue. So, shot clock down to 18. Didn’t start in time. And away we go with under three to play in the second quarter. Great job. Carter again, banks it home. So strong. It shows in his rebounding numbers, you know, his his he searches physicality. He’s only 6’2, but he averaged nine rebounds a game his last year at Providence when he was Big East player of the year. Five to shoot for Brown trying to turn the corner on Clifford. Good defense from the rookie. Brown lost it. Just throws it up with the left hand. Almost went in. Nearly got another offensive rebound. Isaac Jones want to stop. The answer is no. To the hole. Drew. No. Nobody wanted to stop the ball. They were like field goal posts and the kick is up and it’s good. He’s 69 245. I don’t really blame them. Don’t want to get in his way. 122 run by Sacramento. There’s a foul as Proctor was dribbling around. What do you think of this defense? Who’s going to stop it? No one. All right. It’s kind of like me when my wife goes, “Hey, who’s going to clean the dishes?” I don’t move. Gatorade has the number one proven electrolyte blend. [Music] [Music] just signed with the Clippers. 2 years, $11 million is the report. And it’s amazing, Sean Farnum, how Bradley Beal goes from an albatross of a contract at 50 million plus to pretty good value, I think, at 5 a.5. Extremely good value for the Clippers. Obviously, they made the move off of Norman Pal, who was in the final year of his contract. Uh they get Brook Lopez uh to add uh strength behind Zubac underneath and and now you add in a guy like Bradley Beal. I mean, this is an experienced group. We talked about the Western Conference. This is an older team. James Harden, Kawhi Leonard. Uh so, they’ve got to have guys that can score the basketball. That’s one thing that Bradley Beal can do. with what level will he be able to do that when the ball is going to be in the hands of James Harden a lot. But this is a team with Steve Balmer and and Los Angeles Clippers into a Dome is is a fantastic environment. I’ve been there numerous times. My son is probably the biggest Clippers fan alive. So we have long-term discussions about where the Clippers are and where they want to be. The biggest key for the Clippers is the health of Kawhi Leonard. Yeah. To be able to come into the summer at 100% is huge for the Clippers. You talk about five players that have played five seasons or more in NBA history that have more steals than fouls called against them. Kawhi Leonard is one of them. You said there are five. There are five. Do you know the other four? Yeah. Allan Iverson is one of them. Jason Kidd is another one. And I wrote down the last two, but I’m not remembering it off the top of my head right now. I got you on the spot. I’m only supposed to do that with Dave, not with you. No, you can do that. You can do that with me. Uh Mookie Block Block and Don Booy. That’s good trivia. There you go. That’s really good. You could impress some people with that trivia. But you know, Jimmy Butler was on that list for a long time. No longer on that list. But what it shows to is the discipline defensively and the ability to impact. Then you look at the Clippers this year defensively. They were very very strong for a majority of the year. Tyresese Proctor called for the foul. First in the last two minutes, but a shooting foul puts Devin Carter at the line with the Kings on top by eight. So Bradley Beal now has to come in and fill that role of Norman Pal. And I think that will move Chris Dunn down uh to coming off the bench. And I thought he made a lot of winning plays this year for the Clippers. But be is going to look to kind of be that Norman Pal spot. And I think that’s a good spot for him to be at, especially at a mid-level exemption at $1 million over two years. And you look at the Clippers, go back and look at their numbers after the All-Star break or even, you know, January on, they had some of the best metrics in the NBA. Just ran into, you know, the best player in the world in the Denver Nuggets in the first round and lost in seven. Proctor catch and shoot. Rebound from Cardwell. You saw the bounce. You see sky for that one. Inside of a minute 30 left in the first half. Stevens on a little euro. The push on balls. Good touch. You notice the trend for the Kings. Everything is coming downhill. They apply as much pressure offensively as they are at the defensive end of the floor. Forcing the Cavs to initiate their offense further out later in the shot clock. Haven’t seen a lot of straight line drives by the Cavs today. On the late shot clock two, but Proctor with a bail out three. Now Sean, just to wrap up the Clippers conversation, it seems like there’s a, you know, a top tier in that loaded Western Conference. Obviously Oklahoma City, Houston adding Kevin Durant, Denver has had a great off season, Minnesota maybe backto-back conference finals, defense of three seconds here. Do you see the Clippers in that top tier of contenders? They can be. Age is the biggest concern. I mean, right, like you look at their age and where they were at. I they have the same record as the three spot in the Lakers this year. So, they’re not far off. And if they can stay healthy, things are going to be promising, I think, for the Clippers this year. I I I really do think their window is now obviously with the age. I mean, this is one of the older teams in the NBA. How many good more years do you have left with Harden and Leonard in particular? Um, but they got to go all in now. Crosscourt pass, Isaac Jones for three. That rattles out. You should be at my house for a Clippers game. My son jumps up and down so much cheering for him that he literally wore a hole in the carpet, the padding underneath the carpet in my family room. I’m sure Steve Balmer will cover that for you. See, seems like something he would appreciate. Proctor and one. Tyrese Proctor. A late first half takeover here. He’s up to 14 with a chance for more. A little bit of a flurry from him, right? Like good good three-point shot a couple possessions ago. That time we we talked about not a lot of straight line downhill drives. Little bit of a crossover creates that seam for him to attack and able to finish. [Music] And one guy cheering that on is coach at Duke. John Shier in the house sitting right next to Bruce Pearl. The brotherhood. It is strong. Just unbelievable rod of such talented players will continue again heading into the college basketball season. And they’ve got Carlos Boozer’s twin sons. Clifford on the step back corner pocketed three pure. I How confident of a shot was that by the rookie? He knew where he was going. Went there immediately. Shot it immediately. 10-point lead for the Kings. 10 seconds left in the half. Proctor’s got the hot hand with 15 points. steps into one off balance. Reo challenged the shot. Carter to Reo. Do they have time? Off his hands and out of bounds. Answer was yes. The execution was no. It was right. No. Good execution though in the second quarter by the Sacramento Kings. Plus 10 in the second quarter after being tied at 23 to start. Excellent ball movement by the Kings looking to stay perfect. visions on potentially a ring at the end of the summer league. When allergies throw a sucker [Music] baby. [Music] Hey [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] Happy [Music] birthday. [Music] Hey, [Music] [Music] blue. [Music] [Music] [Music] Hey. [Music] Hey. Hey. [Music] Happy. [Music] Hey. Hey. Hey. [Music] [Music] Hey [Music] [Music] man, hey [Music] [Music] Welcome back to the NBA 2K26 Summer League where Nick Clifford been one of the best players here, one of the most impressive rookies. He and the Sacramento Kings looking to move to 4-0. They lead the Cleveland Cavaliers by 10. As we start the third quarter, Tyrese Proctctor carrying the mail for Cleveland along with Naquin Tomlin, the only two with more than five points they’ve combined for 29. And then Isaac Jones on the other end, the only king in double figures as we welcome you back courtside here at Thomas Mack. Drew and Shawn back with you. Got some good guests lined up for the third quarter. But as we look back at that first half, the Kings, their defense and their offensive efficiency continue to impress. There’s not many times I’ve seen a team shoot 54 almost 55% from the field and shoot 8% from three, but I just witnessed that in the first half by the Sacramento Kings. I mean, truly remarkable because they are not shooting the ball well at all. And they came in as the best three-point shooting team here in Las Vegas and just 1 for 12 and yet they’re shooting 55%. They’re moving the ball extremely well. 14 assists on 18 made field goals. That unselfishness has got so many different players involved. Sean, they’re 17 for 21 inside the ark. That’s a good percentage. I didn’t ask science or or or mathematics at Stanford like Maxine Reno, but I I know that that’s good. We’ll we’ll get the headset back on him and ask him what what that percentage is cuz it it just got him a little bit better, too, as Jones is up to 15 points. An important note too is is and you mentioned it off the top when we have the eight teams that are undefeated here as North Shadow Mir his upper body strength again but the eight teams that are undefeated here point differential is very important to get to that top four so that you have an opportunity to play for the ring and the Kings right now at plus 12.7 looking to add to that potentially with their win today over the Cavs depending upon how things go here in the second half but really important and I think you know we heard it from Max Reyno that’s why he came back he he missed the last game with an injury a wrist injury and he’s back now and that that’s not always common in the summer league if a guy has a minor injury you might see them get shut down but Reo came back and we asked him why and he said we’re trying to win a championship here that for just gliding in well and how they use Reo early in the game on the first possession we saw him set that on ball screen and it led to a lob. Defense stayed at home that created a seam and Clifford exploited it. Oh, Proctor with a nifty finish. Talk about seeing a seam and attacking it. Proctor been much more aggressive at the end of the second quarter and now in the early portion of this third quarter of looking to be aggressive and get downhill. That was touched by Darius Brown. So, no backcourt on Carter. Here’s Reo. Keeps the thing moving. Here’s Jones now curling around. Eight to shoot. Reo defended by Tomlin. Max Reo. Look at the strength he’s exhibiting there into the hole. Getting himself fouled. Guard play so important in the NBA. Watch it come off that screen. Saw that line. Knew that Proctor was trailing and Proctor said, “All right, so you can do that. I can get you on my hip and I’ll go find a seam that I can attack and finish.” So, the thing with Clifford, you mentioned it earlier, 23 years old, five years in college, started at Colorado and then transferred to Colorado State. By the way, I wonder how many guys have done that, going from CU to CSU. But Nate Clifford, yeah, he’s 23, so he’s one of the older guys in the draft. The bottom line is the dude can play and he does a lot of things really well. His passing might be his best attribute. He he just has demonstrated time and time again great awareness out on the floor. And look at five assists in the first half for him. He’s now up to six. He’s well on his way to a double double again. And and you talk about roles, right? Like at Colorado State, he was the guy. Here he’s kind of having to be the guy with Devin Carter, right? Those are two guys you’re going to primarily look to get a lot of your scoring from. But when you’re playing with the guys he’s going to be playing with in Sacramento, he’s not going to be the guy that you’re asking to score a bunch of points. So, can you facilitate? Can you make life easier for those vets and those stars that you need? A nice play he just made there with the back tap, but Proctor ended up with it and scored again. Tyrese Proctor’s got a chance to hit 20 points here early third quarter. And a little back tap defensively and Reo couldn’t corral it. Proctor stuck with it. Tyresese Proctor, I mean, look, he’s he’s a winner and he he had to play various roles at Duke. We talk about the brotherhood, but the talented collection of players that that was around him and and he sacrificed a lot of his game to to fit. So, when you’re the Cavs and you’re thinking, okay, can this guy be a rotational player? Can he fit into a role? He’s already demonstrated the collegiate level that he can sacrifice aspects of his game for the betterment of the team. Reo is fouled. That’s a great point on Proctor. I mean, he he’s playing with five guys who got drafted in the first round. So, he he’s he’s accustomed to playing a specific role. Check out what those guys have done in Summerly. Cooper flag, of course, the big headline. Didn’t shoot it very well in his first game. A lot better game. Yeah. 30 points. Khan Canipple playing for Charlotte. Kaman Malawatch as well. I mean that that team coached by John Shy was just stacked. By the end of the season, they looked unbeatable. They just ran into an experienced Houston team. All right, mark it down. Here’s a name for next year. Nick Commion, he’s a freshman. Write it down. I’m going to write it down. He is a connector. He has thrived with the US youth national team. He’s won multiple gold medals. And yeah, there’s guys that are higher ranked, the Boozer guys, and that’s fine. But I’m telling you right now, he is going to come out and he is going to set the world on fire with his connectivity and understanding how to play the game the right way. And NBA teams are going to look at him and his size and versatility and absolutely love him. Is Duke going to be number one in the preseason poll? No. Large part. I think you’ve got Houston and Purdue up top with their experience. uh likely to be number one, but another collection of of young roster and and John Sher, the challenge at the collegiate level is taking those young pieces that have major aspirations to be here and then playing in the NBA and getting them to collectively gel together to have the efficiency necessary to try to compete for a national championship. Took them all the way to the final four this year. Looked like they had that win and were going to play for a national championship and lost it down the stretch. Darius Brown the steel can’t lay it in. Devin Carter playing transition defense. Naquan Tomlin with another offensive rebound. Yes, but who got back to deflect that off of the rim? Nate Clipper. And little things like that if you’re evaluating you’re like, “Oh, look, he he didn’t assume that that was going to be a made layup. He tried to deflect it and Tomlin just decide, you know, again, the Kings have not decided to box him out yet.” Nine offensive rebounds. That this is unbelievable. nine offensive rebounds and it leads to a three from Tristan and Aruna. By the way, the NBA record as Jones finishes it off. The NBA record for offensive rebounds in a game is 21. Do you want to guess who it was? No. Moses Moses Malone. All right. N makes sense, too. 21 offensive rebounds in a game. That’s Chad Omir, by the way, just got his 21st offensive foul for a screen. Thankfully, they get 10 fouls before they’re disqualified here. North Shadow Omir. That’s his third in 13 minutes. Lot of illegal screens, lot of fouled three-point shooters. Oh, Devin Carter. Long one. Missed it. Ray No, with the offensive board and spits it right back out to Carter. Now he gets it back. Running the two-man game with the big man, the rookie from Stanford. Cardo trying to get by in Aruna. Here’s Jones. Two to shoot. Isaac Jones playing fully ball. Great defense from Tomlin. And then he runs it down for his first defensive rebound to go along with nine offensive rebounds. So nine offensive rebounds. His first defensive rebound doesn’t come till under the six-minute mark in the third quarter. Ray with the block. Yeah, typically you don’t see that. Tomlin now for three. There is Brown. Another offensive board. That’s how the Cavs are staying in this game. Out of bounds, pretend to shoot takes us to a TV timeout. When we come back, we’re talking with Nick Clifford’s agent, who also happens to be Sean Farnum’s ex- roommate. Stories to come. What? Gatorade has the number one proven electrolyte blend. [Music] Hey, [Music] [Music] blue. [Music] [Music] There’s at all. I just want to hear stories about you and Sean Barnum at UCLA and then when you were the best man at his wedding. So go ahead. You guys just take No, hold on. North Chad Omir was like, “Pause the interview for a second. Are you kidding me?” All right. Go ahead, Todd. No, no. I’m going to let you lead, Sean, cuz I don’t There’s no storytelling to be had. I mean, the TOD was uh the best the best roommate one could ask for at 690 veteran in Westwood in our playing days at UCLA. And what about best man? You can’t leave that part. Yeah, you’re good at that. Your speech has left a little bit to be desired if I’m going to be honest. Yeah, we don’t need to talk about that on air. Well, congrats on all your success in in the agency space. Uh you got a couple of guys out here in Vegas. Nate Clifford is one of them. Uh we’ve been watching him. We’ve been raving about him. When did you know that Nick Clifford, you know, had a chance to be not only an NBA player, but a really good one. You know, it was last year when he uh tested u you know, the draft in 2024. And a lot of times when we uh sign clients, it’s not until they come to our gym that we could really see them outside of their system. And the one thing that stood out about Nick was just he’s a Swiss Army knife. Yeah. So just his skill set all the way around in terms of being a primary ball handler, playmaker, facilitator. Some of those attributes stood out very early on that he continued to build on going into this past season, which uh we’re starting to see a lot of those things on display today. We talked so much about, you know, coaches and how they evaluate players to go to that next level from an agent perspective. I mean, you you’ve done such a remarkable job, not just because you’re one of my friends and but Pascal Seakum, you know, I think of Andrew Nemhard. I I think of uh AJ Mitchell, I I think of Nick Clifford, a set coward. How have you gone about identifying players that maybe haven’t gotten shine at the national level, but you have positioned your clients extremely well to have success? We saw AJ Mitchell have a a huge game just the other day for OKC here in Las Vegas. Uh but so many of them have gone on and thrive. What is that process like as an agent when you’re scouting these guys? You know, a lot of times for me it’s not and and and staff and and my teammates within the agency is not looking at the company as an agency, but looking at it as a championship level organization. So, when we’re looking or evaluating talent, it’s who would we want to add to the roster that’s contributing to championship level basketball. That’s one thing, right? And that starts with character, you know, their family background, you know, do they have the ability to be coachable and listen and do they love the game? Yeah. Right. So those are the things that we start with. Obviously they have to have talent, but the more you look at that in terms of evaluating talent. It’s also developing talent, right? Because uh any whether it’s Nick Clifford or Cedric Coward or AJ Mitchell, they’re coming in with this foundation that we have to continue building on to help him transition from the college game to the NBA game, which is not easy at times. So, it’s again surrounding them with uh individuals, whether it be NBA coaches, NBA performance level trainers, and so forth to give them a leg up as they’re starting their careers. They call the shot clock violation after Anna Aruna was out of the shoot. Cleveland not happy with that call. But, you know, talking we we talked a lot about role definition, right, for guys who might be the number one option obviously in high school and then in college, but then they have to do something else when they get to the NBA. What what do you counsel your guys on when it comes to how their roles could change? Yeah. So, it I always tell them if a coach is putting in you into a game, what is your elite skill that he could 100% count on that’s going to contribute to winning basketball, right? Because I think often times young players come in uh whether they’re drafted high or drafted where say Nuke is or in the second round like Elijah Martin, one of our other clients, it’s all about being a utility player, right? Because most of those 30 NBA teams have superstars and veterans on their team. As a young player, if you’re going to find minutes on the floor and build the trust of your head coach and coaching staff, what are you going to do well that’s going to allow him to be on the court? And 100% of the time it starts on defense. And then it’s just the simple things in terms of knocking down open shots and then building the trust that you can expand and showcase your game from there as you get more minutes as your career progresses. Good ball movement by the Kings once again. Find a wideopen three-point shot and now what has become a four-point game. Caps doing really well. Her early getting cleaner looks against the Kings. Let me ask you this, Todd, because it’s easy to talk about the guys, you know, that are that are the high draft picks that you’ve had. You have guys here that are trying to find a spot, whether it be a G-League, a a two-way deal potentially, or even going overseas. What has that process been like for you since July 10th being here in Las Vegas and advising those players on the best path forward for them to elongate their professional basketball career, even if it’s not at the NBA level? Well, the conversation has started months ago as they were either finishing up their college season, finishing their NBA season or finishing their uh international season. And you know, it’s really having a plan and giving the client options that are going to put them in the best position, not only from a playing standpoint next season, but financially because every job that we put our clients in, whether it be NBA, well, now even with NIL, NIL with colleges to uh being professionals, whether it’s the NBA, G-League, or international, that job should lead to a better job the following following year. and then subsequently in their career the same thing. So, you know, it’s it’s really about putting them in the best position possible. All right, Todd Ramasar. Shoot, we ran out of time. No stories from college. That’s right. Uh, next time follow Todd on Twitter. He’ll be tweeting some of those out. Todd, thanks for doing this, man. Appreciate you having me. [Music] [Music] You see that little bounce with a lean the shoulder in to create that space to finish over the top. Nicely done. It’s got to make Bruce Pro happy. Cheney Johnson scores. No assist though for Jones. Got it. Clifford for two. Cut in the bag. I mean, you I knew that shot was down before he even released it just because of the confidence in which he was like and and great scorers can do this and guys that are efficient scorers understand get me to that spot and if I get to that spot I’m scoring. Cardwell with the rejection. Dylan Cardwell does a lot of things well. I mean you got Cardwell, Jones, and Johnson. Three Auburn Tigers out there right now. Clifford with under a minute to play in the third scores again. He is in the zone right now. He he just continues to operate with great efficiency. Doug Christie clapping as he came back up the floor as a foul called on Stevens. And Meek Clifford must have seen his agent getting interviewed over here and said, “I got to play well.” And meanwhile, Bruce Pearl watches his He’s looking at the jumbotron, by the way. I I don’t think he’s watched the game that way. Yeah, he’s a ton of Auburn players playing here in Las Vegas. Jai Broom was the one that challenged Cooper Flag all season long for the college player of the year. And and that just shows the difference by the way when you can compete against Cooper Flag for the national player of the year award. But yet you get drafted completely different areas, right? Tomlin for two. But what a team Bruce Pearl put together at Auburn this year. one seed, made the final four, lost to Florida, who ended up winning the championship. Plowed in again, way too strong. His second Final Four at Auburn. And when he inherited that program, they had the fifth worst RPI, which is what we used to use as far as metrics for a major conference program in all of college basketball. And now he’s ascended it to one of the consistent players on the national scene. 3 seconds left. Shedric the catch and he is fouled. free throws coming for the former Virginia Cavaliers/ Texas Long Longhorn. Playing for two schools, I think actually puts you below the median number for guys here in Summerland. We make these game boards in front of us that, you know, has information that we want to make sure that we can hit during the course of the game. Now, when I’m doing a lot of my game boards in college, it started here, transferred here, via here to here, and and that’s how it usually ends up. It’s like you need a map. Hey, reminder, summer league action continues in Vegas on NBA TV, ESPN, and ESPN app. Later today, Phoenix and Minnesota, Orlando and Brooklyn, and then New Orleans and Oklahoma City. The Thunder summer league team, of course, just keeps winning because every team they have wins. And then tomorrow, it’s Detroit and Miami. Clouden gets it inbound. Kinsey, that’s a heave. It won’t count as a personal field goal attempt miss. and his team leads by three. Try to remain undefeated. Fourth quarter next. [Music] Hey. [Music] [Music] Hey. Hey. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] joined now by Jaylen Tyson who’s not playing for Cleveland today. Has had a terrific week here in summer league. You see the averages, the assists, fourth in summer league. Jaylen, thanks for doing this. you know, as we’ve watched your team throughout the the summer, you’ve been one of the brightest stars. What do you think has worked so well for you playing here in Vegas? Um, honestly, just playing my game, playing at my own pace. Obviously, this is my second year, so I know what what summer league holds and I know what the NBA holds. So, understanding the game, slowing down, you know, I think it’s been a pretty good pretty good uh weekend week for us. And knowing that this is your second time and knowing what it holds, do you take a leadership role on this team? is part of the reason we’ve seen such good ball movement by the Cavs here in Vegas. Part of a reflection of how you want to play. Uh, for sure. You know, I like to I like to make my teammates better, you know. Um, I’ve definitely had a leadership role and everybody looks up to me on this team because obviously this is my second year and I know what the NBA holds like I said. But yeah, I mean that’s it’s been fun. It kind of reminds me of college a little bit being that being that leader on the team. So it’s fun. Yeah, Jaylen, when you look at the the Cavs, big club, couple of changes this offseason season in the back court. Ty Jerome leaves, Lonzo Ball is in. When you look at that roster and envision yourself playing for the Cavs, how do you think you fit in with that group? Um, you know, I I feel like I could do so much on the court. Obviously, if you watch me play, I’m very versatile. I can be a secondary ball handling. I can play off ball, on ball, be a point of attack defender. Um, that’s the biggest thing I’ve been working on. So, there’s there’s a lot of things I could do for this team and that I will do for this team and um I’m just excited for the the opportunity that’s going to be presented to me. When we talk about the Eastern Conference, uh in large part because of so many of these Achilles injuries that we’ve seen maybe being a little bit more wide open this year. Uh the Cavs are one of a handful of teams that bring back essentially all their key parts. How important do you think that is to the success of what this organization will see next year? I mean, obviously like it sucks for the injuries and all that. I mean, I feel like we have a team that with or without the injuries that we could compete at any with anybody. So, obviously having a healthy team helps. You know, we got Darius back healthy. Um, but everybody else is good. Um, you know, it’s it’s good that we have our star players. Um, Donovan Evans be a hell of a player. Um, and is a hell of a player. So, I’m I’m excited for this team for sure. And Jayl, what what do you think is the number one key for you guys to get over the hump in the playoffs? you know, disappointing after the great regular season to lose in the second round. What’s the most important thing for you guys to get past that? Um, the health aspect, I feel like, um, obviously health’s been a problem for the last couple years before I even got here. So, finish. Yeah. But, yeah, just staying healthy and um, honestly, last year was we learned a lot um, through the adversity and what we need. We need a little bit more ball pressure. Defense got to got to pick up a little bit more. Obviously, Indiana got gotten our stuff last year. So, you know, I think that I think that we’re going to learn from this year and get over that hump for sure. We’ve been talking a lot about players that were stars in college. You were one of them, right? But then you come to this league and you’ve got to accept the role and figure out how you can carve out your space. How hard is that to make that adjustment looking back on on your track from a year ago uh to now where you’re at mature maturity wise and understanding this year? Um it’s part of the NBA. you know, obviously that year helped me help me learn what I can do and what I got to do to get on the court. So, anybody coming in, you just got to understand that it’s going to be a role and eventually the role is going to expand. But, you know, um the the good thing about me is how versatile I am and how I can fit those fill those holes for us, right? Um and it’s it was like that in college, right? If you look at my college track record, I was just three and uh the year before I got to Cal. So, um I I think it’s it’s this is part of the the process of the NBA and that’s this is what it is and anybody coming in if you want to stick around, that’s just what it is, you know, playing with really good players and honestly, I’m I’m just excited to fill that role. Yeah. What did you learn? What did you absorb from the guys around you? Those those vets on the Cavs roster as you don’t you think they missed a call there? Yeah, man. What are we doing out here, man? So, what what what did you learn though in your first year in the NBA that you’re going to take with you for year two here? The biggest thing I would say I learned is just the the process and how staying not getting too high and not getting too low, right? The NBA has a it’s a long season. Very very long season. I’m stressing a lot of these new guys. That’s that’s what it is, right? So, um just not getting too high, not getting too low. I had games I had really good games. I had games where I didn’t play my best, right? but just staying levelheaded and just being ready for the next day. And that’s that’s what I’m going to take on for the next year and years to come. That Donovan Mitchell described you as a complete dog. Do you like that? I love that. You know, I love that. Um he knows what it is. He knows every time I get in there. I remember a couple games he asked me like, “Yo, you ready?” I said, “Dog, I’m here.” He knows I’m here. So, um it’s it’s definitely a blessing to have star player uh compliment me like that. And I’m excited excited to show show that. Well, we’re excited to watch it, Jaylen. Thanks for doing this, man. Good luck this upcoming season. Thank you so much. Yes, sir. All right, that’s Jaylen Tyson of the Cleveland Cavaliers. They need a timeout. Sacramento back on top by seven. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Destin Skills Challenge at 8 Eastern on ESPN. And Saturday night, the 21st annual All-Star game is on ABC at 8:30 Eastern. Team Caitlyn Clark takes on team Nisa Collier. Coverage tips with Countdown at 8 Eastern. Caitlyn Clark injured yesterday at TD Garden against the Connecticut Sun. So, hope she gets well soon. Part of the festivities in Indie for All-Star weekend. It’s a seven nothing run for the Kings to reestablish the lead here early fourth quarter. And Sean, you pointed out the key to that run is what? Defensive rebounding. You mentioned it. It was a one-point game. As Proer tries to line it up and another offensive rebound, they go on a seven nothing run the Kings did when they didn’t give up any offensive rebounds. Then you give up an offensive rebound and you give up points. And that’s been the storyline of this entire game is is when the Cavs have been able to get second chance points opportunities, they have made the most of them. They have 19, actually now 21 second chance points after this made bucket by Tyresese Proctor. And that’s what’s kept them in the game. The the number of shot attempts, the disparity there, plus 18 on shot attempts now uh for for Cleveland. They’ve just done an outstanding job of being the aggressor. And Sacramento has done a poor job of putting a body, initiating contact, and finishing off the possession with a rebound. It’s hard to win a game when you’re minus 18 in shot margin. The Kings are shooting 57% from the floor. Cavs are shooting 37%. For Proctor, this is a heck of a performance. And he’s only been shooting 30% from the field coming in. Here’s Devin Carter. And Proctor snares the rebound. He’ll start the break himself. Shovel it over for Aruna. Three ball won’t go. Omir fighting for the rebound. stepped on the baseline ball. It was just effort though. I mean, you you watch the white jerseys every single time a shot goes up, their guys are moving. They’ve been ultraaggressive in trying to get to a position and tracking down the ball. By the way, in case you’re wondering, folks, most offensive rebounds by a team in a game in the NBA is 38. Milwaukee at Brooklyn 10 years ago, Zaza Patulia had 18 offensive rebounds. The Cats have a ways to go to get there, but 21’s a lot. But what it also does is if you’re taking the ball out of bounds, right? Where have the Kings thrived? Rebounding the ball and then applying pressure off that rebound by running the floor, spacing the floor in transition, looking for driving seams. That’s how they were able to be so efficient and and balloon their lead in the second quarter and then during that 70 run. If your opponent though is getting second chance points and you’re being forced to take the ball out of bounds because of it, it’s a lot more difficult to find cleaner looks. Now you’re having to execute. It slows down the pacing of how the Kings want to play versus how they’re being forced to play. Proctor is fouled by Plowen over here. Now, the good news for the Kings is when they do get into the half court set, they’ve got Nick Clifford. And Nate Clifford can help bail you out of situations. He’s up now up to 14 points, eight assists, and five rebounds. He’s a piece. And I think anytime you go in the draft and you come to summer league, you want to know when you leave town, do we have a piece that’s going to fit on our roster and is going to help our team win games? He’s a piece. Tyrese Proctor. He’s got a 30 piece. His season high at Duke this year was 25 against Baylor in the second round of the tournament. He’s got 30 points today wearing a Cavs uniform. Carter slips inside. Kick it out. Plowed in. Nice play by Deon Carter. He is really skilled. We’ll see how he fits into that Kings back court. You got Zack Lavine, Demar De Rozan, Malik Monk, Dennis Shruder comes over in the offseason. Keon Ellis is a good player for them. Carter got some burn when he came back from shoulder surgery in January. Jamie Johnson off the mark. Rebound down to Plow. Clifford stopping P. Bullseye. Nick Clifford feeling it. Doug Christie just let out a come on. I mean, just, you know, love what they see. And then defensively, energy. Here we go. Carter gets to the three-point line, knocks it down. Two in a row for Sacramento. Their lead is nine. How quickly can they put it on you? And Aruna gets it out. Look how it’s translating to defensive energy. How does that matter when you’re playing Tyrese Proctor 33? They’ve helped off of him twice now. And when you overhelp and you’ve allowed for that long close out or to get caught in rotations, Proctor’s been able to dial it in. 33 for him. Carter on the block. Double team out to Clifford. The pump and go in the lane. So crafty. He’s just solid and he’s got 19 now to go. That eight and five. I mean, that is a complete game. And we still got four minutes left to go. And the Kings are trying to play their way in to being one of the four teams to have an opportunity to get a ring. But Tyrese Proctor is saying, “Well, your point differential might not look as good. I’m going to continue to be hot and I’m going to go and cook.” Proctor is unstoppable right now. 35 points. Clifford can’t respond. Proctor gets the rebound himself. 35 points ties the most in this summer league with another Duke. Kyle Filipowski had 35 in a game for Utah. Got it. Just off the mark. He earned himself a heat check and that was a pretty good look. Johnson to steal. Brown pull up way short. Darius Brown 0 for nine from the floor. Here’s the thing about Proctor. When you when there’s a player out on the floor, if I’m the Kings right now, here’s what I want to see. Who wants to try to turn his water off? who’s going to stay connected to him, right? Like you you got a guy that’s on a little bit of a heater right now. It’s a six-point game. He’s got 35. Like, who wants to accept that challenge? And is who who’s going to be good enough to do it? Maybe this is the matchup on the other end. Carter against Proctor. Omir switches out and Carter with the air ball. Maybe an ill-advised shot. Under three minutes to play, Kings by six. Hey, hey, hey. [Music] [Music] [Music] feel. Hey. Hey. Hey. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] were also teammates with Cooper Flag this past year. John Sher left by the way. Guess he’s seen enough. He knows those guys are good. Bruce Pearl still here watching the final three minutes as the Kings look to move to 4-0. Remember, score differential is critical for them. Eight teams are still 3-0. Only four make it to the playoffs. Omir can’t handle the pass. Three to shoot. That foul. Oh, careless foul. A bailout foul. I mean, just nor Chad Omir. I saw him a ton in college. His strength is not a 17t contested jump shot. Fade away. Shot clock is winding down. All you have to do is put your hands straight up and not reach in and watch Maxim Reno. I mean, two hands, one low, one on the shoulder. That is an easy call and gets Omir to the free throw line. Six team fouls against the Kings here in the fourth. Just one against the Cavs. North Chad Omir the first player from Nicaragua to attend a division one school on a basketball scholarship. Cavs have players from all over the world. It’s an international game. I we see it at every level now. 10 on the timer and Aruna from the Netherlands pestering Reo from France. Now five to shoot. Clifford’s got to go. Discards his defender. Jones comes soaring in for the offensive rebound. Stevens for three. A little Colorado State chemistry right there. Kings have not shot the three ball well today. Now eight for 28 below 29% but Stevens three for three from downtown. There’s Brown off the mark inside of two minutes now. Seven-point lead for Sacramento. Clipper going right through. Brown blocking foul. His level of aggressiveness is on go. I mean, we talk about that point differential, how important that is, right? The Kings aren’t slowing this down with the time on the clock. They are they’re going to play through and they’re going to try to see if they can extend out their lead to ensure that they have an opportunity to potentially play for a ring. A lot of conversation here. They’re just checking the score to make sure they had it right. Maybe a discrepancy between a two versus three call. I said they’re good to go. 91 to 84. Someone inbound the ball. Need someone to inbound the ball. That is essential. It’ll be Devin Carter. I’m making sure they’ve got the right shot clock. It’s at 14 right now. It was a foul on Brown. While we have the chance, want to remind you free fan perks. That’s a win with NBA ID. Get exclusive merch deals, chances to meet NBA legends, and more all summer long. Join free now at nba.com or in the NBA app. They’re going to set a stagger screen here for Nick Clifford, get the ball in his hands. Then he will either look to facilitate or for his own shot. If he has a seam, he’s going to look to turn the corner and drive. Shot clock, by the way, finally down to 17. Now we got that sorted. There is Clifford around the Reo screen. sets another one for him. Omir switched onto him trying to enter it into Reo. They do with seven to shoot. Defended by Anaruna. Reo can’t move him. Missed the shot. Good defense from Tristan and Aruna. He just held his his positioning and forced Reo to shoot that one a little bit further away than he wanted to. Oh, this is a matchup that you like if you’re the Cavs. Cavs got to hustle here. Proctor Just a little long. Tyrese Proctor with 35 points, but looks like it will not be enough. Under a minute to play and the Kings with a seven-point lead. Reo picks it up after Clifford lost it. This is Nick Clifford time. Offensive foul. Reo setting the screen on Brown. Give Darius Brown a lot of credit there. You don’t draw that foul unless you’re really working to get around the screen. [Music] A little bit of a foul on Omir though when he when Reno caught the ball, but that is like the seventh or eighth illegal screen that we’ve seen during the course of this game. Carter with good hands. Reo’s got six fouls, by the way. He’s got four more here in the next 45 seconds. Use them up. Carter called for the foul. You talk about on ball defensive players who wants to accept it. I I I think Carter is he he he’s proven the ability and the want to to pick up full court and apply pressure defensively and getting that assignment to Tyrese Proctor. Well, you asked the question, who’s going to turn his water off? Carter has done that down the stretch. Tomlin not even close. Sacramento’s cranked it up defensively. Might as well go add some more to the point differential. Carter comes into the scores table. Cleveland on the move and Aruna glides in. No. And Tomlin with another offensive rebound. Is that 10 offensive rebounds for Tomlin? 10 offensive rebounds. Yes. But maybe even more important is differential. And you know, a a careless turnover, picking up your ball in a position where you’ve got a trap on you and just throwing it towards your basket leads to the turnover. And then in a scattered situation, the opportunity to get to the offensive glass for Tomlin one more time. Cleveland does give the foul, which helps the Kings in terms of score differential. Tomlin, by the way, it is 10 offensive rebounds and one defensive rebound. Hey Dave, how many guys in summer league history have had 10 offensive rebounds and one defensive rebound? Why are you doing this to him with 11.7 seconds left? What if he came up with a list? Yeah. What if he had five in the bag? I wouldn’t be surprised. That’s why he’s the best. Be probably some obscure player that you forgot about. Yeah, Dave never forgets. Luke Rashard Umba Mute back when he left UCLA had. No, we got a timeout by the Cavs. All right, Omar Omar Cook, the Cavs head coach here, takes the timeout is final and we’ll be back with 10.6 to play as the Kings put the finishing touches on it. All American club combo. Extra jalapo. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] ing so far in the summer league. The Kings are 10.6 seconds away from becoming the first 4-0 team. Point differential is crucial when it’s more than two teams tied and we will have more than two teams tied. That’s your first tiebreaker. So, every point matters here. Timberwolves hot on their heels. Everyone’s going to be watching points. And important Hornets and Spurs play tomorrow. You and I will be on the call of that game. So, one of those two teams will take a loss. I will not be here for that game. Oh, yeah. Unless I’m calling it from Boston. I will not be here. Oh, that’s right. You’re going to be with the shrift. John Shriffin. Oh, yeah. All-Star break, right? That’s right. Okay. Man, he’s busy. No vacation for him. I’m just excited I got the real life version of you. I’m so used to the animated version. In a way, I play that. There’s Devin Carter with the block. Omir corowled it. Stevens has it and the Kings get the foul as the Cavs give them one more. That’s going to really help the score difference. That is actually really important. They’re doing them a favor with that. In Vegas, we often say at times like, hey, this is really important, you know, for various reasons. This reason is very simple. Yeah, they want to be one of the top four teams that have an opportunity to play in the playoffs here. These are significant to the Kings. Good defensive contest by the way by Devin Carter on that shot. Yeah, that’s a good exclamation point for his fourth quarter defensively after Proctor was cooking him to start the fourth. Devin Carter stepped up and said, “I’m going to help stop this guy.” So8 seconds an opportunity to add to their point total. Very efficient performance by the Kings overall offensively. Taquan Plowden made them both. So plus eight is the final score here and the Sacramento Kings are the first team in Vegas to move to 4 and 0. It’s about an identity. It’s about a culture. It’s about what you want to build and what your goals were coming to Las Vegas. And it’s very clear that the Kings because of their buyin and their way that they’ve executed have been focused on trying to make sure that they have a chance to play for a championship.

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