The NBA’s summer league stage has moved to Las Vegas, and for Hawks second-round pick Henri Veesaar, the spotlight comes with a little extra weight.
Every rookie showing up in July is trying to make a case to his front office. Veesaar’s case is different.
He already took one major swing before even hearing his name on draft night, reportedly passing on a UNC deal worth more than $5 million to return for his senior season and enter the NBA Draft. Then came the slide.
Once viewed as a late first-round prospect, he fell to No. 52, where Atlanta grabbed him.
That decision now carries a sharp financial edge. Veesaar is set to make about $1.3 million as a rookie, and his four-year, $9.2 million contract includes only around $3 million guaranteed. It’s a long way from what he left behind in Chapel Hill.
He’s already shown some of the upside Atlanta is betting on. In the Salt Lake City Summer League, Veesaar opened with just two points, but he bounced back in his next outing and finished his last game against the Grizzlies with 11 points, five rebounds and four assists. The turnovers were part of the package too - four of them in that game - which is a reminder that the rough edges are still there.
Still, there’s enough there to keep the Hawks interested. Atlanta needs more than flashes, though. If Veesaar is going to carve out a real role, he’ll have to bring the kind of consistency that shows up every night: rim protection, cleaner decision-making and enough shooting to stretch the floor.
That’s the assignment in Las Vegas, where every possession matters a little more for a player who’s already bet on himself once. Veesaar has done it before.
After three uneven seasons at Arizona, including a redshirt year, he transferred to North Carolina and found his game almost immediately. In his lone season with the Tar Heels, he averaged 17 points per game and emerged as one of college basketball’s premier bigs.
Now he’s trying to do it again at the next level. For a player taken with the 52nd pick, that kind of climb is nothing new.
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