Cormac Ryan gave the Bucks exactly the kind of steady Summer League showing that can settle a game down, while Henri Veesaar’s professional debut was quieter and Drake Powell’s shot never found a rhythm on Saturday.
Ryan helped Milwaukee beat the Warriors Blue 97-83 in San Francisco, putting together a clean first extended run. He started and played 18:39, finishing with 13 points on 3 of 8 shooting.
He knocked down three of six shots from 3-point range and went 3-for-3 at the line. Pete Nance did not play for the Bucks, with the decision coming from the coach.
Veesaar’s first game in the NBA came in Salt Lake City, where the Atlanta Hawks dropped a 103-102 overtime decision to the Utah Jazz. Coming off the bench, he logged 18 minutes, 12 seconds and finished with five points on 2-of-4 shooting. He made one of three 3-point tries, added three rebounds and one assist, and ended with a plus/minus of -13.
Powell’s line was the most frustrating of the three. In San Francisco, the Brooklyn Nets fell 79-76 to the Sacramento Kings, and Powell started and played just over 27 minutes.
He collected eight rebounds and two assists, but missed all nine of his shots from the floor, including five from beyond the arc. Under the experimental free throw rule, he still got to four points by going 2-of-3 at the line.
The Tar Heels group keeps moving through the Summer League schedule quickly, and Sunday brings another round of matchups in San Francisco. At 3 p.m., Powell’s Nets face Ryan and Nance’s Bucks on ESPN+, and at 7 p.m., RJ Davis and the San Antonio Spurs meet the Golden State Warriors Gold team on ESPN+.
Davis already had his first Summer League outing on Friday, when the Spurs lost 88-87 to the Heat. He didn’t start but played 18:20 and scored 15 points on 4-of-8 shooting, including 3-of-5 from 3-point range. He also added two rebounds, three assists, one steal and a team-high plus-16.
The rest of the week keeps the Tar Heels spread across Salt Lake City, San Francisco and then Las Vegas. Veesaar’s Hawks play the Thunder on Monday and the Grizzlies on Tuesday in Salt Lake City before heading to Las Vegas, where the Summer League schedule begins to count toward tournament seeding.
The top four teams advance to the semifinals on July 18, with the championship game set for July 19. Several later-round TV assignments were still to be determined.
The experimental free-throw setup remains in place as well: one-, two- and three-shot sequences are condensed into a single attempt worth the same total points, except in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter and in overtime, when standard free-throw rules apply.
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UNCs Rebuilt Passing Game Could Finally Be Dangerous Beyond Jordan Shipp
North Carolina is heading into 2026 with a passing game that looks nothing like the one it will leave behind. A new starting quarterback, a rebuilt receiver room and changes up front all come with the territory, and Bobby Petrino is now the one tasked with sorting it out as offensive coordinator under Bill Belichick. The setup at least gives the Tar Heels more ways to stress defenses, with Jordan Shipp joined by Nathan Leacock, Mason Humphrey and Trech Kekahuna as the main names to know.
Shipp still looks like the clear headliner, but the bigger question is whether the rest of the group can make the offense more than a one-man show. Leacock is getting another chance to live up to the lofty expectations that followed him into college, while Humphrey and Kekahuna offer different kinds of help that could round out the room. The real pressure point, though, is the quarterback spot, because if Petrino and UNC do not get steady play there, all of that new talent could end up looking better on paper than it does on Saturdays. [Read more 🡒]