With both teams sitting their top prospects, the Wizards skeleton summer league squad beat the Hawks skeleton summer league squad, 91-83. Both teams had just eight players available. Both teams hope at least a few of those eight will help populate their G League teams this season. Both teams finish their Las Vegas adventure with identical 3-2 records.
There seems to be a scoring differential tie-breaker that determines who finishes 12th (apparently Atlanta) and who finishes 13th (apparently Washington). I don’t see how it matters, but it seems NBA.com has the official standings. Gotta be honest, I’d love to learn that Seth Trimble or Reece Beekman (or anyone really) negotiated a bonus based on the team finishing with a winning record or something.
Washington Wizards big man Felix Okpara attempting a three against the Atlanta Hawks in summer league. | NBAE via Getty Images
This game definitely involved the playing of basketball. The Hawks fired blanks (5-31 from three) while the Wizards connected from deep (10-26), and that was basically the difference. Washington ran out to a nine-point by the end of the first quarter and hung on to win by eight.
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A few of the Wizards played pretty well. Reece Beekman had 14 assists to just four turnovers. Felix Okpara looks like maybe he’ll be a competent backup big man at some point in the future, though he did commit seven fouls and four turnovers.
Seth Trimble defended and rebounded well but did none of the guard stuff (shooting, playmaking) teams typically expect from their guards.
John Camden hit 4-8 from three-point range en route to tying Atlanta’s Devon Diggs for a game-high 22 points. Chris Livingston was decent — 20 points, 5 rebounds — and seems to have sufficient size and physical abilities to someday (maybe) win a spot in an NBA rotation.
I don’t think anyone did enough to make me think the roster and rotation calculus for the upcoming season changes, but there was some maybe someday work on display.
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For the Wizards, summer league was successful. The youngsters they’re counting on for next season (AJ Dybantsa, Tre Johnson, and Will Riley) all played reasonably well and emerged healthy.
Next up for the Wizards: Offseason workouts, pickup games, maybe some vacations, and then training camp.
