Baylor Bears in the NBA roundup ahead of Christmas

As the NBA season hurtles towards Christmas Day, teams are starting to separate themselves as contenders or pretenders. The Baylor Bears men’s basketball program continues to carry a solid group of alumni on active rosters and has seen a mixed bag of results through the first two months of the season. Below is a weekly update on former Baylor Bears and how they are performing (stats as of 12/14).

Keyonte George (Point Guard, Utah Jazz)

After a scorching start to the season, it appeared that George had hit a wall around Thanksgiving. Since the calendar turned to December, George has turned up the heat on talks about taking home Most Improved Player in the NBA with four games scoring 28 or more points the past two weeks, which includes a career-high 39-point effort versus the Grizzlies on 12/12. For the season, George is averaging 23.3 points, 6.8 assists and four rebounds across 33 minutes per game.

Royce O’Neale (Small Forward, Phoenix Suns)

It’s been a stretch of feast or famine for the ninth-year vet recently with double-digit scoring efforts on 12/8 and 12/14 combined with a scoreless outing on 12/5. Despite the inconsistency, O’Neale is shooting a career-best 41% from the three-point line and has played the part of a veteran leader for a young Suns’ team. For the season, O’Neale is averaging 10.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists across 29.5 minutes per game.

Davion Mitchell (Point Guard, Miami Heat)

Mitchell’s career has taken off in South Beach as the starting point guard for a playoff-contending team. His prowess as a passer and a defender have led to Mitchell becoming a key piece of the franchise. For the season, Mitchell is fifth in the league in total assists and has committed the second-fewest turnovers among players with at least 100 assists. Mitchell is averaging 9.9 points, 7.7 assists (seventh in the NBA), 2.8 rebounds and 1.3 steals across 30 minutes per game.

VJ Edgecombe (Shooting Guard, Philadelphia 76ers)

The rookie guard has picked up the scoring pace in the past week with 22 and 26-points efforts versus the Pacers and Hawks. The defensive stats have fallen off but Edgecombe is young and still learning his place with the team and can only continue to improve. For the season, Edgecombe averages 15.2 points (fourth among rookies), 5.6 rebounds, 4 assists (third among rookies) and 1.3 steals (second among rookies) across 35 minutes per game (most among rookies).

Ja’Kobe Walter (Shooting Guard, Toronto Raptors)

Walter appeared to be carving out a semi-regular role a few weeks ago but the Raptors have sent Walter back to the bench with inconsistent minutes. Two of the last three games have seen Walter not score a point and finish with less than 15 minutes. For the season, Walter is sitting at 5.3 points, two rebounds and one steal across 16.4 minutes per game.

Yves Missi (Center, New Orleans Pelicans)

Like Walter, Missi is struggling to find a regular role for his team despite notching eight rebounds in each of the past two games with less than 15 minutes of action. For the season, Missi is averaging 5.6 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.2 blocks across 18.8 minutes per game.

Jeremy Sochan (Power Forward, San Antonio Spurs)

As said in previous Baylor in the NBA roundups, Sochan just cannot seem to find an important role for the Spurs, even with their best two players out for multiple weeks. With Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle returning from injury, Sochan has been a healthy DNP the past two games. For the season, Socha is sitting at 6.1 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists across 16 minutes per game.

RayJ Dennis (Point Guard, LA Clippers)

Dennis was released by the Pacers and picked up by the Clippers on a two-way contract almost two weeks ago. The second-year guard has not made an appearance for the Clippers. In four games (three starts) for the San Diego Clippers (NBA G-League), Dennis is averaging 19.8 points, four assists and three rebounds across 30 minutes per game.

Taurean Prince (Small Forward, Milwaukee Bucks)

Prince was off to a solid start in a veteran bench role before suffering a herniated disk in his neck that required surgery last month. In his first interview since the injury, Prince said he will “100% play again” despite there not being a timetable for return. For the season, Prince was averaging 6.1 points, 1.6 rebounds and one assist across 21 minutes per game.