Arizona Basketball: Recapping Saturday's NBA Summer League Action

Arizona had three players see the court on Saturday night that made an impact on the summer league games.

Jan 2, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers center Christian Koloko (10) boxes out Portland Trail Blazers guard Scoot Henderson (00) in the first half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The NBA 2025 Summer League is here with new faces getting a chance from organizations and second-year players participating to get more reps and prove themselves to not only their teams but others around the league that are keeping an eye out for talent.

Although it isn’t the same as the regular season, it is a great chance for basketball fans to see young and upcoming talent that could be future stars in the NBA and inspire the next wave of players.

Right now, there are seven former Wildcats participating in the Summer league with Caleb Love, Pelle Larsson, Keshad Johnson, Oumar Ballo, Christian Koloko, Trey Townsend and No. 14 overall pick Carter Bryant looking to impress their new teams and find their footing in the NBA.

On Friday, three Wildcats took the court in Bryant, Love and Koloko with all three looking to improve their standings with their prospective organizations.

First, Bryant and the Spurs faced off against No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg and the Mavericks. San Antonio walked away with a low scoring 76-69 win with both teams shooting under 42% from the field.

It was an offensive struggle for Bryant and maybe his worst performance of the summer league with just two points while going 0 of 7 from the field. Five of those shots came at the 3-point line. Still he managed to grab two rebounds and an assist along the way.

Despite the offensive struggles, Bryant was still able to play lockdown defense and make his mark on the game that way.

Against Flagg, Bryant held him to eight points on 3 of 12 shooting and forced him into two turnovers.

“He’s an incredible player and a really good person as well, " Flagg said during postgame interviews. “He plays really good defense, he didn’t look tired at all. I was definitely feeling a bit gassed”

Meanwhile, the Lakers beat the Pelicans 94-81 in a game that should’ve featured two WIldcats in Koloko and Townsend.

However, Townsend received a DNP due to a coach’s decision.

Koloko was able to get into the starting lineup and played 23 minutes where he had 13 points on 5 of 7 shooting from the field to go with his seven rebounds.

One interesting stat was that Koloko went 1 of 1 from the 3-point line. He wasn’t a deep ball shooter in college and really hasn't been one thus far in his NBA career.

Lastly, Love was in action for the Trail Blazers, who lost 96-86 to the Grizzlies with the two teams both shooting below 40% from the field.

Love turned in another 18-point performance as the second leading scorer on the time while in the starting lineup.

He scored 18 points on 7 of 21 shooting while going 3 of 9 from the 3-point line. Plus, he was able to collect an assist and a rebound along the way.

Although 18 points is a good number in the summer league, Love needs to be more efficient moving forward as he develops.

Arizona will have more players in action on Sunday night as the NBA Summer League keeps rolling along.

Please let us know what you think of the Wildcats performances in the summer league. To do so, follow us on our X account by clicking on the link.