3 Things We Learned From Jazz's Summer League OT Win vs. Hawks

The Utah Jazz wrapped up their first of three Salt Lake City Summer League performances over the holiday weekend, where Utah would edge out an exciting overtime victory against the Atlanta Hawks, 103-102, to start their summer showings off on a high note.

And in that July 4th victory for Utah, there were a handful of notable takeaways to gather from the action.

Multiple players had strong debuts that make you momentarily question whether or not they even need to take the trip to Las Vegas next week, and others––in the case of Ace Bailey––saw their day come to an end a bit prematurely due to injury (back spasms).

Let's break down three of the biggest things we learned from the Jazz's overtime summer league victory against Atlanta:

1. Darryn Peterson Looks Like a Star From Day 1

There's no doubt that Darryn Peterson stole the show when compared to anyone else on the floor in this one.

In his summer league debut, Peterson put together a memorable 28 points, shooting 11-21 from the field and 4-7 from three, paired that with five rebounds, two assists, and two blocks, and did it all in a brief 27 minutes.

The #2 overall pick Darryn Peterson SHOWED OUT in his Salt Lake City Summer League debut!

🎶 28 PTS (game-high)
🎶 5 REB
🎶 2 BLK
🎶 4 3PM@utahjazz win in overtime over the Hawks! pic.twitter.com/unIAEC5aDy
— NBA (@NBA) July 4, 2026

It's going to be really tough to find a player who's capable of coming out of the gates as strongly as the number-two pick did in his first-ever minutes on an NBA floor. A performance like this is only going to rev up the excitement surrounding him moving forward for however long he plays this summer, and into his rookie campaing later this year.

Areas of his game will still need to be cleaned up, sure. He had a wild eight turnovers throughout the day that combined for a staggering 26 total giveaways from the team.

Even still, it's hard not to walk away from this one not feeling anything less than satisfied with Peterson's first performance in a Jazz uniform.

2. Cody Williams Already Seems More Poised

Another bright spot from the Jazz's first summer league matchup came from one of their most experienced players on the roster: third-year wing Cody Williams. He had a couple of jaw-dropping posters throughout the day to add onto a nice stat line of 17 points, five rebounds, a steal, and two blocks.

CODY. WILLIAMS.

Another big-time jam... this time in OT 😳

17 points in Utah's win over Atlanta! pic.twitter.com/ItTE6GBurL
— NBA (@NBA) July 4, 2026

A poised, confident, and energetic version of Williams is the exact type of player that the Jazz are looking to see in these summer league reps. And when paired next to his noticeable physical changes of bulking up, the signs are starting to show that the third-year wing might be entering next season primed for big improvements.

Williams, like Peterson, is another name to circle as someone who needs to work on ball security, as he had five turnovers throughout the day to add onto the Jazz's giveaway woes. But overall, it's also hard to be discouraged from the 34 minutes (a game-high) he played.

3. Jazz's UDFA Signings Are Further Away Than We Thought

Before the game, I had highlighted a couple of names to watch in the Jazz's summer league debut as candidates who could be looking to push for a roster spot next season: that was their pair of UDFA signings in center Micah Handlogten out of Florida, and forward Jaxon Kohler from Michigan State.

Those two combined for a whopping zero minutes played. The Jazz ran a 10-man rotation with a high dose of playing time going to guys like Peterson, Williams, Max Abmas and Kylor Kelley, rather than seeing what their pair of new undrafted rookies could bring to the table.

Of course, the Jazz were still able to grind out a narrow win without him. But if anything, it shows that these two are a bit of a ways away from having confidence within this coaching staff to be summer league rotational players. So getting close to finding a spot on the Jazz's main roster might be a bit of a ways away from what the initial expectation was.

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