Keaton Wagler’s second summer league outing looked nothing like his first, and that was the point.
After an ugly debut that raised real questions about his pace and overall comfort level, the fifth overall pick answered in a big way against Darryn Peterson and the Utah Jazz. Wagler finished with 23 points, four assists, and a steal, going 6-16 from the field and 4-7 from deep. For a 19-year-old coming off a rough first impression, that’s about as clean a response as you can draw up.
The night didn’t start smoothly. Even with Wagler taking more aggressive shots at all three levels, the ball wasn’t dropping early, and he still looked uneasy in the matchup with Peterson, who has been one of the best rookies so far. But the third quarter changed everything.
Wagler found his spots, made the right reads, and suddenly took over. He scored 18 of the LA Clippers’ 42 points in the quarter on 5-8 shooting, flipping the feel of the game in a hurry. By then, the player who had been picked apart after his first summer league run looked far more like the confident offensive threat the Clippers drafted.
He also had a case for an even bigger night. Had the coaching staff let him stay in to open the fourth, he might have had a shot at joining the short list of rookies who’ve hit 30 points in summer league.
Instead, Wagler settled for something almost as valuable: a statement game. He outplayed Peterson on both ends in a 22-point blowout win, quieted plenty of the noise from his debut, and gave the Clippers something to build on as they move toward game three against the Los Angeles Lakers.
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