Former KU forward Jalen Wilson’s summer-league performance impresses Christian Braun

Former Kansas small forward Jalen Wilson continued his stellar play in the NBA 2K25 Summer League on Thursday, hitting six 3s and scoring 33 points in the Brooklyn Nets’ 102-100 overtime victory over the Orlando Magic at Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas.

The 6-foot-6, 220-pound, 23-year old second-year pro from Denton, Texas not only led all players in scoring but hit the game-winning shot in OT. Starting at the top of the key, he drove the lane and banked in a well-guarded layup to give the Nets their Elam ending target score of 102.

Wilson — he hit 11 of 20 shots — went 6-of-7 from 3 and 5-of-5 from the line in 34 minutes.

He sparked the Nets to their third victory in four summer games.

He now is averaging 24.2 points per game in those four games. He is a remarkable 20-of-36 from 3 for 55.5%

Folks in the basketball world are noticing Wilson’s summer contributions to the Nets.

“Jalen Wilson summer league MVP,” former KU guard Christian Braun of the Denver Nuggets wrote Thursday on social media site X. He added an emoji in which fingers were crossed.

Nets summer league coach Steve Hetzel remarked that Wilson, who had 27 points off 5-of-10 3-point shooting Tuesday against the New York Knicks, “is extremely poised, never gets too high or too low. We’ve challenged him to be better defensively. This was the best defense I’ve ever seen him play.”

Wilson said he’s more comfortable in Year 2 of summer-league action than he was last season as a rookie taken by Brooklyn in the second round.

“It’s fresh as a rookie; you don’t know really what to expect. But now this is my second year coming back. It’s just fun,” Wilson told Brian Lewis of the New York Post after the win over the Knicks. “You get to see things, get to experience having a chance to win it. That’s the thing that drives a guy, especially when it’s our second time doing it.

“Everybody here is valuable on time and wanting to get better every single day. I can call anyone no matter how early or late it is to get in the gym. ... So I just attribute it to all the time we’ve been putting in this summer in Brooklyn and all the help the coaches have been giving us.”

Wilson added that his immediate goal is to “play hard, learn as much as I can. And game-by-game hopefully it just keeps slowing down and slowing down. I feel like that first year is just so fast for a rookie because we’re just like, ‘We’re in the NBA now.’ It’s different. So hopefully the second year is slowed down and I get to really learn the game.”

His performance has impressed SI.com’s Kyler Fox who wrote Thursday: “Now amid a full-fledged rebuild, the opportunity Wilson has to continue to not only develop but become a massive contributor could not be any better. As Brooklyn is expected to be among one of the worst-performing franchises in the league next season, Wilson will have free reign to make the mistakes needed to further his development. He will receive far more than the 15.5 minutes per game he did in his first professional season, and if he continues to perform the way he has this summer, may even himself a member of the starting rotation.”

Wilson averaged 5.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 43 games a year ago. He logged 15.4 minutes per game. He hit 79 of 179 shots for 42.5% including 24-of-74 from 3 for 32.4%.

In 11 G League games for the Long Island Nets, he averaged 19.1 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 35.0 minutes per outing. He hit 70 of 140 shots for 50%. He was 23-of-51 from 3 for 45.1%.

“Wilson has been Brooklyn’s best player in the summer league for the first three games this year and Thursday’s game against Orlando was more of a reminder of how far he has come,” wrote Sharif Phillips-Keaton of Yahoo. “Wilson put up 33 points in this game, but the amount of points isn’t the goal for him, but rather how he’s getting his points. For a rebuilding team like the Nets, players like Wilson will have to create their offense for themselves and others in some capacity if they are going to have a functioning offensive structure.”

Johnny Furphy struggles in Pacers loss

Former KU guard Johnny Furphy of the Indiana Pacers failed to score in double figures for the first time in four summer league contests on Thursday.

The second-round draft pick scored eight points on 3-of-12 shooting with five rebounds, two assists, two steals and two turnovers in an 86-71 loss to Denver. Furphy went 1-for-8 from 3 in 29 minutes.

Furphy, a second-round pick in the 2024 draft, has averaged 14.0 ppg in four contests.