The NBA Draft may be in the rearview mirror, but the spotlight is already shifting to Summer League, where the 2026 class will get its first run with new teams and a handful of 2025 picks will try to prove they belong in a bigger role.
For second-year players, this stretch in Las Vegas can matter just as much as it does for the newcomers. It’s a chance to show growth, earn trust and put a rough rookie year behind them. For a few members of the 2025 class, that opportunity couldn’t come at a better time.
Beringer is one of the names to watch. The No. 17 overall pick played in 40 NBA games as a rookie and made three starts, averaging 3.7 points and 2.3 rebounds while shooting 66.3% from the field in 7.9 minutes per game.
He flashed his best all-around outing on Jan. 17 against the San Antonio Spurs, when he posted 10 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks while going 5-of-6 from the floor in 23 minutes. His biggest statement came in Minnesota’s regular season finale against New Orleans, where the French big man put up 24 points, 13 rebounds, 2 assists and 7 blocks on 9-of-12 shooting.
With the Timberwolves having traded away Naz Reid and Julius Randle over the offseason, Beringer is likely to be pushed into a much larger role in 2026-27.
Hansen also enters Summer League needing to show more. The Chinese big man appeared in 43 games and made one start as a rookie, finishing with 2.2 points and 1.5 rebounds while shooting 31% from the field in 7 minutes per game.
His top performance came on Nov. 18 against the Phoenix Suns, when he scored 9 points and added 5 rebounds, 3 assists and a block while shooting 4-of-7. The No. 16 overall pick in 2025, Hansen barely saw the floor in his first NBA season, and now he’ll need to make a stronger case for minutes on a team that reached the playoffs in 2025-26.
Jakučionis got more runway than either of those bigs in his rookie year. He played in 53 games and made 12 starts, averaging 6.2 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists while shooting 42.9% from the field and 42.3% from 3-point range in 17.8 minutes per game with Miami. Now with Milwaukee after being included in the Giannis Antetokounmpo deal, the No. 20 pick in the 2025 class may have an even bigger opening in year two.
Maluach is another second-year player who should be on the radar in Las Vegas. The No. 10 pick played 46 games and made one start for the Suns as a rookie, averaging 3 points and 2.9 rebounds while shooting 53.3% from the field in 8.9 minutes per game.
Late in the season, he started to get more run and showed what he could do, capped by an 18-point, 14-rebound performance in Phoenix’s regular season finale against Oklahoma City. The Duke product now has to build on that finish if he wants a real path to minutes for Phoenix and a chance to help a team with playoff aspirations.
In Other News...
Former Suns Big Man Just Cashed In Outside Phoenix
Luke Kennard is now in place on a two-year, $13 million deal to help replace Grayson Allen, but another familiar Suns name just found a bigger payday elsewhere. Jock Landale, who once filled minutes in Phoenixs frontcourt, has landed a new contract after spending enough time around the league to make clear he still has value as a sturdy backup big.
For Suns fans, the more interesting part is what Landales departure says about a position that still invites debate whenever Phoenix looks for depth. There are still arguments to be made about how well he would fit in a second-unit role and whether his style would have worked in the kind of rotation the Suns are trying to build, but that discussion now lives more in the hypothetical than in the roster. [Read more 🡒]
Lakers Just Sent A Brutal Message About Deandre Ayton
Deandre Ayton choosing to stay put on his $8.1 million player option should have given him a clear runway to carve out a bigger role with the Lakers next season. Instead, Los Angeles immediately followed that decision by adding frontcourt depth in a way that changes the picture around him, with Walker Kessler and Sandro Mamukelashvili both coming in on significant contracts and giving the roster a very different look up front.
For a player trying to re-establish himself, that kind of spending tells its own story. JJ Redick now has more options in the middle, and Kessler is expected to open as the starting center, which leaves Ayton staring at a more crowded rotation than the one he may have envisioned when he opted in. The Lakers did not need to say much for the message to come through: the next season may not be built around giving Ayton the kind of central role he was hoping for. [Read more 🡒]
Lakers Just Made The Same Risky Bet Suns Fans Know Too Well
For Suns fans, the Lakers latest roster shuffle looks familiar in all the wrong ways. Phoenix has already lived through the kind of aggressive win-now push that brings in useful veterans, sends out rotation pieces, and chips away at future flexibility, from the re-signings of Collin Gillespie, Jordan Goodwin, and Mark Williams to the trades and additions that brought in Miles Bridges and Luke Kennard. It is the sort of balancing act that can make a team look deeper in the moment while quietly narrowing the path forward.
Los Angeles has now stepped into a similar lane after losing LeBron James, bringing back Deandre Ayton, adding Quentin Grimes, Collin Sexton, and Sandro Mamukelashvili, and making major commitments around Luka Doni, Austin Reaves, and Walker Kessler. The Suns know how quickly that kind of approach can tighten the margins, especially once multiple future first-round picks are already gone, and the real question now is how much patience either franchise will have left when the bill for all this boldness eventually comes due. [Read more 🡒]