With the first day of the 2026 Las Vegas Summer League in the books and both the California Classic and Salt Lake City Summer League wrapped up, the early takes are already flying. Some prospects have popped hard, while others have opened the door to a few uncomfortable questions.
Dailyn Swain landed in that second group after his debut for the Chicago Bulls. He finished with 7 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, going 3 for 10 from the field and missing all three of his 3-point tries.
That line isn’t disastrous on its face, but Swain is set to turn 21 on July 15, and that changes the temperature a bit. Older prospects are expected to look more refined and more ready to separate themselves from the pack. If this kind of performance keeps showing up, the questions about how much upside he still has will only get louder.
The contrast with Chicago’s other lottery-end talent was hard to miss. Freshman Caleb Wilson, taken at No. 4, poured in 35 points in just two more minutes than Swain and knocked down seven threes.
Swain was never projected as a pure shooting threat, but he was supposed to be efficient around the basket. Instead, that part of his game didn’t really show up. He spent much of the night matched with Cedric Coward, which is no easy assignment, though he also saw time guarded by Javon Small, the 6’1” defender whose size is right there in the nickname.
For Portland, the bigger takeaway is tied to what the Blazers still need. Their biggest issue remains perimeter shooting, and right behind that is a lack of quality forward depth. Swain played both the 2 and the 3 in college, but he never produced the kind of shooting numbers Portland is chasing.
If the Blazers had missed the playoffs, they likely would have ended up with pick 14, where Hannes Steinbach was selected. Steinbach would have addressed the forward-depth need, but he also isn’t known for his shooting.
Steinbach did have a solid first game in Summer League, though Charlotte brought him off the bench behind second-year player Ryan Kalkbrenner. That matters in this setting, where Summer League is essentially a draft showcase and the gap between first-unit and second-unit competition can be pretty wide.
The larger point is that the talent line near the bottom of the lottery can get overrated. Portland came close to taking a few games from the Spurs in the playoffs and showed it belongs in this year’s postseason picture. Based on Swain’s debut, that playoff push looks even better now.
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Potter spent last season with the Pacers, appearing in 47 games and showing enough to stay on a teams radar, even if Indiana ultimately needed the roster spot for a different frontcourt move. For Portland, the appeal is straightforward: a low-risk addition with another year left on his contract who can help fill minutes while the Blazers keep building out the depth chart. [Read more 🡒]
How The Blazers Found A Prospect The Rest Of The NBA Missed
Jayson Kents path to Portland was anything but direct. The forward went undrafted, had no summer league invitation waiting for him and was not even on the radar of most NBA teams after his college career took a hit at Texas, where a wrist injury and limited playing time followed a strong second season at Indiana State. For a player whose stock had once looked far more promising, the climb back started the hard way, with a tryout for the Trail Blazers G League affiliate, the Rip City Remix, and then a standard G League deal that kept him in the organization.
Portlands interest sharpened after a July 2025 Pro Day, when Kent got a chance to put himself in front of the Blazers and earn a look they had not given him before. The appeal was not hard to understand once they saw him in a different role, with more responsibility on the wing and with the ball in his hands, a usage that seemed to reveal more shooting and perimeter skill than the rest of the league had fully accounted for. From there, the door opened to a preseason mini-camp invite and, eventually, a spot on the NBA roster. [Read more 🡒]
Blazers Summer League Could Answer One Frustrating Question Early
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The two-way situation adds another layer, with Chris Youngblood and Jayson Kent both getting a real chance to show they can be more than camp bodies. Portland has also lined up a cluster of other Summer League players who could push for attention, including Jalen Bridges, Quincy Olivari, Andrew Carr, DJ Steward and Flynn Cameron, and the shooting need makes that group worth tracking closely. For a team still sorting out its edges, this month could offer an early answer to one of the more frustrating questions on the docket. [Read more 🡒]