NBA Summer League is only a few days old in Las Vegas, but Arkansas already has a few former Razorbacks making noise.
The loudest performance came from Meleek Thomas, who stole the spotlight Sunday afternoon with a big showing in front of Arkansas coach John Calipari. The Cleveland Cavaliers’ second-round pick poured in 30 points on 10 of 24 shooting, knocked down 4 of 10 from 3-point range and added seven assists, four rebounds and four steals in 34 minutes. Cleveland still lost to the Detroit Pistons, 103-94, but Thomas was the name everyone was talking about afterward.
It was the kind of follow-up that builds momentum fast. Thomas had already opened his professional career with 20 points in Friday’s debut against the Indiana Pacers, and through two Summer League games he’s averaging 25.0 points on 43.6% shooting overall and 40% from deep, along with 5.0 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals in 30 minutes.
Calipari got a front-row view of it all. He was on the Prime broadcast alongside former player John Wall for part of Thomas’ performance, and later he posted about sitting with Thomas’ family while watching the game unfold.
"How about Meleek today?? For me to get to sit with his family while he went for 30 and 7 was special.
He made all the right plays! I am more convinced now that people are going to regret passing on him!
pic.twitter.com/a2YxjHuz8u"
Thomas wasn’t the only former Hog to make a splash over the weekend. Adou Thiero landed on SportsCenter’s Top 10 after a powerful dunk in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 96-84 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder late Friday night, but the highlight was only part of his night.
Thiero finished with 20 points, four rebounds, three steals and two blocks to help the Lakers get the win. He got going early with a standstill lob from William Kyle in the opening quarter, then added another lob later from William Hickey before capping things with a windmill slam in transition. Through two games in the Vegas portion of Summer League, Thiero is averaging 17.5 points on 46.2% shooting overall, plus 4.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 2.0 steals and a block in 28 minutes.
Darius Acuff is the other Razorback drawing attention in Las Vegas. The No. 7 overall pick is still settling in, and teams have been hounding him early. In his Summer League debut Friday, he scored 19 points on 6 of 20 shooting, hit 3 of 9 from 3, and added seven assists, three rebounds and two steals.
After that game, Acuff was blunt about his own offense.
"I'm just trying to be more efficient," Acuff told reporters. "I don't know what's going on (shooting), but I'm just trying to get my assist numbers up and get those guys involved.
They're great players. As long as we keep getting wins, that's good for us."
Sunday brought a tougher test. Acuff and the Kings faced No. 1 overall pick AJ Dybantsa and the Washington Wizards, and the pressure came early and often from Reece Beekman, with some double teams mixed in. Acuff finished with 12 points on 4 of 14 shooting, along with four assists, a rebound, a block and five turnovers in Sacramento’s 104-85 loss.
It was his roughest outing so far, but the schedule doesn’t give him much time to dwell on it. Sacramento has Monday off and returns Tuesday at 5 p.m. CDT on Prime Video.
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