Summer League has a way of making almost any young player look like he’s already ready for the league. The pace is faster than anything they’ll see in the regular season, most defenses have only practiced together for a few days, and a guy who normally gets five shots a game suddenly has the green light to jack up 18 without worrying about getting benched. That’s exactly why one random 25-point night in Las Vegas usually doesn’t prove much of anything on its own.
The players actually worth paying attention to are the ones showing off skills that still hold up once their usage drops back to normal. Shooting without needing the ball in your hands, guarding multiple positions, making the simple read out of a pick-and-roll, protecting the rim, finishing clean around the basket, all of that translates a whole lot easier into a real NBA role than going full isolation mode against a roster full of guys fighting for two-way deals.
A couple of these candidates are rookies showing more polish than expected this early. Others already spent a full year bouncing between the NBA and the G League. Their situations are all pretty different, but each guy is giving his team a real reason to take him seriously.
5. Meleek Thomas
Meleek Thomas fell all the way to the Cavaliers at No. 34, and he’s already looking like one of the best steals to come out of the 2026 Draft. He kicked off Summer League with 20 points, five rebounds, three assists, and a steal against the Pacers, playing 27 minutes without turning the ball over a single time. Two days later, he topped that with 30 points, seven assists, four rebounds, four steals, and just two turnovers against the Pistons.
Through those two games, Thomas is averaging 25.0 points, 5.0 assists, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.5 steals a night. That 30-point outing was impressive on its own, but honestly, the passing might’ve helped his case even more. Any decent Summer League guard can score 25 when he’s got the ball on every possession. Racking up seven assists against only two turnovers is what actually shows he wasn’t just hunting his own shot the whole time.
That wasn’t always the most sound part of his game back at Arkansas, either. Thomas averaged 15.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.5 steals as a freshman, shooting 43.5% from the field, 41.6% from three, and 84.3% from the line. He came into the draft mostly known as a scorer who could hurt you from outside, and how well he’d organize an offense was still a bit of an open question.
These first two games gave a much fuller picture of what he can be. Thomas stayed patient running the pick-and-roll, found open teammates once he drew help, and never looked rattled under pressure. Cleveland isn’t going to need Thomas running the show for 30 minutes a night. James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, and the rest of that veteran guard rotation will handle most of that heavy lifting. What Thomas has to prove is that he can play off another ball-handler, defend without gambling too much, and score without needing 15 shots to get there.
His jumper gives him a real shot at that. A guard who shot 41.6% from three in college can stand in the corner next to a lead ball-handler, attack a closeout, and keep the possession alive. If that playmaking from Summer League sticks around, Thomas could also run short bursts of second-unit offense instead of just being stuck in catch-and-shoot mode.
Cracking the rotation right away won’t be easy given how many experienced perimeter players Cleveland already has, but injuries and load management always open doors eventually. Thomas doesn’t need to become one of the Cavs’ main scorers. Even 10 to 14 minutes on select nights would be a strong start for a second-round pick.
Right now, his game just looks too advanced to write off. He’s put up 50 points across his first two outings, sure, but he’s also handed out 10 assists against only two turnovers. That balance is exactly what could turn him from a fun rookie story into someone Cleveland actually leans on.
4. Liam McNeeley
Liam McNeeley isn’t using Summer League to introduce himself anymore. The Hornets took him No. 29 back in 2025, and he already spent a full season bouncing between limited NBA run and a much bigger role in Greensboro with the G League. This summer’s really about proving he’s ready to leave that development phase behind.
The early returns have been rock solid. McNeeley opened with 28 points and four assists against Orlando, shooting a ridiculous 7-of-8 from deep. He followed that with 17 points, five rebounds, five assists, and two blocks against New Orleans, then put up 20 points, eight rebounds, an assist, a steal, and a block against Boston.
That’s good for averages of 21.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 3.3 assists through three games. The three-point percentage obviously came back to earth after that 7-of-8 opener, but that’s really not a concern. Nobody was expecting him to keep shooting 87.5% from deep. What stood out is that he still made an impact in the next two games once that shooting explosion cooled off.
He attacked closeouts, held his own on the boards against bigger forwards, and kept the ball moving instead of stopping the offense cold. Those are the smaller, less flashy parts of his game that’ll actually decide his NBA role, since Charlotte isn’t about to let him play like a first option during the regular season.
McNeeley averaged just 4.3 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 0.8 assists across 31 NBA appearances as a rookie. His role was inconsistent, sure, but his G League numbers painted a much clearer picture of what he can actually do offensively. He put up 19.6 points and 5.1 rebounds for Greensboro, getting enough touches to show he’s more than just a spot-up shooter standing in the corner.
Charlotte’s already got a crowded group of wings fighting for time, so McNeeley isn’t guaranteed a rotation spot just because he was a first-rounder. Brandon Miller, Kon Knueppel, Naz Reid now, and Tidjane Salaun all need minutes, and the Hornets have veteran perimeter options too.
The good news is his role doesn’t have to be complicated at all. He’s a 6-foot-7 shooter who can run off screens, cut behind a defender, and move the ball after attacking a closeout. He doesn’t need a big usage rate to be useful. He can slot in beside the main scorers without messing with anything they already want to run.
Defense is probably the last real question mark. McNeeley isn’t the quickest wing on the roster, so he’ll need to stay disciplined positionally and lean on his size. If faster guards keep beating him off the dribble, the shooting alone won’t be enough to keep him on the floor.
3. Lester Quinones
Probably a little too experienced for Summer League at this point, what Lester Quinones is doing should turn heads. He’s already 25, has bounced around multiple NBA organizations, and has flat-out dominated the G League. Asking him to prove, again, that he can score against a bunch of developmental players feels almost unnecessary at this stage.
Quinones dropped 15 points in the Magic’s win over the Heat, then followed that up with 30 points, eight rebounds, three assists, and three steals in an overtime win over Portland. He shot 9-of-14 from the field and 4-of-7 from three in that second game, getting his points off movement shots, pull-ups, and drives instead of leaning on just one move.
That wasn’t some fluky explosion from a guy who usually scores eight points a night. Quinones led Osceola with 22.9 points across 36 G League games last season. He’s already shown he can carry a heavy scoring load at that level, and the Magic walked into Summer League knowing full well he was one of the most experienced players on the roster.
The real question isn’t whether Quinones can score 25 with the ball in his hands. He obviously can. The question is whether he can dial back his usage and still be useful to an NBA bench unit.
Orlando’s roster isn’t exactly an easy path for a guard or wing trying to carve out minutes, in all honesty. The Magic already have a handful of young perimeter guys under contract, plus recent draft picks who are going to get their own development runway. With Jalen Suggs, Anthony Black, Desmond Bane, Jevon Carter, Jase Richardson, and Jett Howard, one rough week of training camp could change everything for him fast.
Still, that can open a door somewhere else entirely. Teams go looking for cheap bench shooting every single season, especially once the injuries start piling up. Quinones has already put in the work proving himself in the G League. That 30-point night against Portland was just one more reminder that he’s already ahead of most of this competition offensively.
2. Cameron Carr
Cameron Carr might be the easiest fit on this whole list to explain. The Lakers grabbed a 6-foot-5 wing who can shoot, cut, and finish above the rim, then dropped him right next to some of the best creators in basketball. He won’t need to build offense on his own. He just needs to make defenses pay once Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves start dragging people out of position.
Carr’s averaging 17.0 points through his first four Summer League games, shooting 37.0% from three with a block a night. He scored 19 in his debut, followed it with 26 points and eight rebounds against the Heat, had a quiet five-point night in just 13 minutes against the Spurs, and then added 18 points, two rebounds, an assist, a steal, and two blocks against the Thunder.
That five-point game shouldn’t move the needle much, since Carr didn’t even play in the second half. The bigger sample has shown the exact same tools he flashed at Baylor. He can come off a pindown, get a shot up without extra dribbles, and attack the rim once a defender closes out too hard.
At Baylor, Carr averaged 18.9 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 1.3 blocks while shooting 49.4% from the field and 37.4% from three. He finished fourth in the Big 12 in scoring, led Baylor outright with 45 blocks, and was the only Division I player in the country with more than 70 made threes and 40 blocks in the same season.
That mix is why the Lakers can actually think about using him early. Carr isn’t just a shooter you have to hide on defense. His length and athleticism let him recover for blocks around the perimeter, contest shots from behind, and cover extra ground after getting screened off the ball.
None of that is unusual for a rookie taken at No. 24. The Lakers don’t need him guarding the other team’s best forward or running advanced pick-and-roll reads on opening night. They just need him running the floor, knocking down open shots, and using his length to make a few plays defensively.
His fit next to Doncic is especially fun to think about. Defenses are going to send help at Doncic on almost every possession, and Carr is the kind of athlete who can make them pay for it through backdoor cuts and spot-up threes.
There’ll be real competition for the role, but Carr brings a shooting-and-athleticism combo the Lakers genuinely need. He probably won’t turn into a major scorer right away, but a 12-to-16-minute role off the bench is completely realistic once his body’s ready for the jump.
1. Khaman Maluach
The most developmental leap of anyone on this list award has to go to Khaman Maluach. His rookie season wasn’t a disaster by any means, but it made it pretty obvious he still needed time. The Suns used him in short bursts at the NBA level while most of his real growth happened down with the Valley Suns.
Maluach averaged just 3.0 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 0.1 assists during his first NBA season as the No. 10 overall pick last summer. Over five G League games, those numbers jumped to 17.4 points, 13.2 rebounds, 2.0 blocks, and 0.8 assists in 30.8 minutes, though he was still only shooting 18.8% from three and 56.3% at the line.
His first two Summer League games have looked completely different from that quiet rookie version. Maluach opened with 19 points, 11 rebounds, two steals, and a block against the Trail Blazers, shooting 7-of-15 from the field and 3-of-7 from three. He followed that with 15 points, 15 rebounds, an assist, and two blocks against the Pelicans, hitting 5-of-9 shots and 2-of-4 from deep.
That’s 17.0 points and 13.0 rebounds a game, plus five made threes across just two outings. The shooting is interesting, sure, but it shouldn’t become the whole storyline. Maluach isn’t going to earn NBA minutes because he suddenly turned into a seven-foot movement shooter.
What’s encouraging is how much stronger and more aggressive he looks out there. As a rookie, Maluach sometimes played like a 19-year-old center trying not to screw anything up. In Vegas, he’s been attacking rebounds and finishing through contact instead of just waiting around for an easy lob.
His size was never really the question. Maluach is listed at 7-foot-1 and 250 pounds, and the Suns knew that frame came paired with unusual mobility for someone his size. The real issue was learning how to actually use that against faster, stronger NBA competition.
Mark Williams is still ahead of him on the depth chart, and Oso Ighodaro can also soak up frontcourt minutes. That means Maluach doesn’t need to start or play 25 minutes a night right away. He just needs to become reliable enough to handle a normal backup center role.
Twelve to 16 minutes a game would already change his season completely. He can screen for Phoenix’s guards, finish around the basket, control the defensive glass, and give the starters a bigger rim presence coming off the bench behind them. Any three-point shooting at this point is just a bonus on top of that.
Maluach produced in the G League, struggled to find stable footing in the NBA, then came back this summer looking more physical and a lot more confident. Of these five guys, he’s got the best combination of a clear opportunity, a skill set his team actually needs, and a big long-term upside.
