Second-Year Standouts: Highlighting the Best Sophomores in Summer League

A closer look at the second-year players who made a splash this summer

Summer league is officially over, and thankfully, there’s Olympic basketball and FIBA youth tournaments to hold me over until NBA training camp starts in late September.

While I’ve already started focusing on the 2025 NBA Draft and eagerly anticipating who will emerge as the No. 1 pick next June from a strong class featuring Cooper Flagg, Ace Bailey, and Khaman Maluach—who notably scored seven points and grabbed three rebounds in South Sudan’s near upset over Team USA—there’s still much to reflect on from this summer.

Before diving into next year's prospects, I want to share my thoughts on players from the 2023 and 2024 draft classes who participated in summer leagues in San Francisco, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, and Las Vegas.

Last week, I touched on the rookies, and today, I’ll cover the sophomores. While rookies often dominate the headlines, summer league is also where incoming second-year players look to jumpstart their sophomore campaigns. Although Brandon Miller, Jaime Jaquez, Jarace Walker, Jett Howard, and Cam Whitmore had their moments, here are the six sophomores who stood out and truly caught my attention with their summer league performances.