Who: #3 seeded Suns vs. #30 seeded Sixers When: 3:30 PM AZ Time Where: Las Vegas baby! TV: ESPN 2 On Thursday, the undefeated Summer Suns begin their playoff push against a Sixers team that basically mailed it in this summer. While the Suns have come back to SL with all their rookies and several of their veterans, including their #4 overall picks in the two prior drafts, the Sixers came back with... Furkan Korkmaz. So it’s no surprise the Sixers are one of only two winless teams in SL so far, while the Suns have had 17+ point leads in the second half of all three games so far and won them easily. As the #3 seed, the Suns are the highest seeded team to play in the “first round” of the tournament, so they get to go up against the worst team in SL. The #1 seed Lakers and #2 seed Rockets have a “bye” through Saturday. Who will sit/play for Suns In the past, teams have not “respected” the tournament play that occurs over the second weekend, generally sitting our their veteran guaranteed contract players — and sometimes even rookies — after opening weekend. Veterans who might not play again this week: Josh Jackson and Dragan Bender . Neither Jackson nor Bender have played well this summer, so that won’t necessarily diminish the Suns chances to win games. and . Neither Jackson nor Bender have played well this summer, so that won’t necessarily diminish the Suns chances to win games. Rookies who may or may not play again this week: Deandre Ayton , Mikal Bridges , Elie Okobo . It’s possible Ayton and maybe even Bridges play sparingly the rest of the way, if only to avoid injury. SL is generally a showcase for players NOT under guaranteed contract who are trying to win jobs for next season. The Suns have lots of those. Players fighting to keep their NBA contracts: Shaquille Harrison (non-guaranteed), Davon Reed (50% non-guaranteed) and even George King (two-ways are not guaranteed). These three are the players with the most to lose if they don’t show out this week, which makes them the least likely to sit out ANY games. The remaining players on the SL roster have nothing to lose, since they are already without any NBA contract or training camp invite. Players just wanting to get a training camp invite to some NBA team: Jack Cooley , Alec Peters , Players likely just hoping for G-League contracts next season: Tai Odiase, Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson, Javonte Green, Emmet Naar. What that means Suns fans can expect to see a LOT of Shaquille Harrison, Davon Reed, Alec Peters, Jack Cooley and George King* this weekend. Those five players have the most to “gain” from exposure during summer league. *King has a two-way contract in hand, but those are not guaranteed in the same way an NBA contract can be guaranteed. The Suns could drop King any time in favor of another player if he doesn’t play well. We can HOPE to see a lot of Ayton, Bridges and Okobo but don’t be surprised if their minutes are curtailed. Matchup to watch Well, the first results of the Suns-Sixers trade of course! Not only did the Sixers get that coveted Miami pick, but they also got Zhaire Smith in exchange for Mikal Bridges. While they may not line up against each other all night, you should still watch to see which player you’d rather have on the Suns this season. The Sixers’ Smith collects a lot of counting stats and is superbly athletic. He can’t shoot yet (35% from the field), but he collects stats: 1.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.7 steals, 0.7 blocks in 25.7 minutes per game. The Suns’ Bridges is shooting better than Smith (54% from the field), and collects his own stats as well: 3.7 rebounds, 0.3 assists, 1.3 steals and 0.7 blocks in 20 minutes per game. Their big playing differences will be shooting (Bridges is better) versus playmaking (Smith is better). Bridges is also taller and longer, but not quite as good an athlete as Smith. And finally, Bridges at the old man age of 21.5 is almost 2 years older than Smith. But Bridges is a small forward while Smith is more of a shooting guard at 6’4”. So maybe the matchup to watch is really against Davon Reed, the #32 pick in last year’s draft. Reed is trying desperately to get his 2018-19 contract guaranteed, and is playing very well to that end. He’s three years older than Smith, but will most likely play the most minutes opposite Smith in this game. Smith stats: 8.3 points (35% shooting), 1.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.7 steals, 0.7 blocks in 25.7 minutes per game. Reed stats: 13.3 points (56% shooting), 4.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.3 steals, 0.3 blocks in 24.4 minutes per game. Probable Lineups *assuming Josh Jackson and Dragan Bender don’t play Point guard: Demetrius Jackson vs. Shaquille Harrison vs. Shaquille Harrison Shooting guard: Furkan Korkmaz vs. Davon Reed Small forward: Zhaire Smith vs. Mikal Bridges Power forward: Cameron Oliver vs. Alec Peters vs. Alec Peters Center: Joah Bolden vs. Deandre Ayton Sixers leaders Minutes: Zhaire Smith 25.7 Points: Furkan Korkmaz 15.0 (31% shooting) Rebounds: Isaiah Miles 9.5 Assists: Demetrius Jackson 8.0 Steals: Cameron Oliver 2.0 Blocks: Chris McCullough 2.0 Suns leaders Minutes: Deandre Ayton, Shaquille Harrison 25.7 Points: Deandre Ayton 16.0 (67% shooting) Rebounds: Deandre Ayton 11.0 Assists: Shaquille Harrison 5.7 Steals: Shaquille Harrison 2.7 Blocks: Deandre Ayton 1.0 What happens next If the Suns lose, they play a consolation game against the loser of Spurs/Bucks on Friday, July 13 and then go home for the summer. If the Suns win, they play the winner of Spurs/Bucks on Saturday, July 14 and would be two wins away from winning the goshdarn thing. LET’S GO SUNS!<doc-sep>After running roughshod over the competition through their first three games, Phoenix is back in action against Philadelphia. Unlike the Suns, Philadelphia’s Summer League squad is 0-3, but there have been some great flashes shown by Zhaire Smith and Jonah Bolden. Speaking of those two 76ers, they will be great tests for the Suns’ top two picks. Smith’s athletic bounce and length will be great to see up-close against Mikal Bridges while Bolden’s stretch-five components will be the first matchup of that kind for Deandre Ayton. Join us in the comments section below throughout today’s game, which tips off at 3:30 PM AZ time.<doc-sep>Ethan Miller/Getty Images The Philadelphia 76ers earned their first win of the 2018 NBA Summer League as they defeated No. 1 overall pick Deandre Ayton and the Phoenix Suns, 88-86, in the first round of the summer-league tournament bracket in Las Vegas. Ayton flirted with a double-double, scoring 10 points and collecting nine rebounds. He turned the ball over six times, however. Some highlighted Phoenix's inability to feed the ball to Ayton inside: That'll likely be a theme for the Suns throughout the 2018-19 season. Brandon Knight is their expected starting point guard, and he's more of a combo guard than a true floor general. Phoenix needs a proven playmaker to avoid leaving Ayton ignored for long stretches. For the Sixers, Furkan Korkmaz continued a productive summer league. He had 18 points, five rebounds and three assists: Beyond Korkmaz's scoring, The Athletic's Derek Bodner thought he did well to help facilitate the offense: Video Play Button Videos you might like Philadelphia acquired Wilson Chandler and signed Nemanja Bjelica during the offseason, but it's largely the same team it was a year ago. It missed out on LeBron James, and Kawhi Leonard remains a member of the San Antonio Spurs. That could allow Korkmaz to assume a larger role in the team's rotation in his second season. At the very least, the 20-year-old is doing his best to impress head coach Brett Brown.<doc-sep>
After losing a close game in their Summer League opener to Boston (we’ll always have the Furkan game), the Summer Sixers were blown out in consecutive games by the Lakers and Wizards. Now, entering the tournament portion of the proceedings in Sin City, Coach Kevin Young and his motley crew of mostly future G-leagues and overseas players will look to put their 0-3 start behind them. Unfortunately, they’ll be up against the Summer League version of the Warriors, the 3-0 Phoenix Suns. Undoubtedly, some people will try to make this meeting a referendum on the draft night trade between the two clubs, playing up the Zhaire Smith-Mikal Bridges matchup. I’m sure any video clips of one scoring on the other will be pure social media catnip. However, the two players couldn’t be in more different situations on their respective Summer League rosters. Whereas the Sixers don’t have a single lottery pick on the team in Vegas (technically, Smith went 16th overall), Bridges is just the fourth-highest drafted player on the Phoenix squad (behind DeAndre Ayton, Josh Jackson, and Dragan Bender). The Suns are a few years into a full rebuild, and while it remains to be seen whether they can rise above the dregs of the NBA standings this season, they certainly have more than enough young firepower to dominate in the desert. First overall pick DeAndre Ayton has been the main cog for the Suns, averaging team-highs of 16.0 points, 11.0 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks across the first three games. As for Bridges, after shining in his professional debut to the tune of 14 points on 4-5 shooting from behind the arc, the Villanova alum has since struggled, tallying just 5 points against the Kings and going scoreless against the Magic. In all, Bridges is averaging 6.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 1.3 steals in 20.0 minutes per night. We’ll see if any desire to prove the Sixers should have kept him for longer than 20 minutes on draft night will focus Bridges’ efforts. As for the Sixers, while prevailing over a talent-stocked Phoenix group might be too much to ask, it’d be nice to see their relevant players get back on track. No one expects Furkan Korkmaz to drop 40 again, but an improvement over his 0-12 mark from behind the arc the last two games would be welcome. I want to see Jonah Bolden avoid airballs on his outside shots and tally more than his average of 2.7 defensive rebounds per game. Zhaire Smith has done a good job showing off his defensive prowess and athleticism at the rim; can he keep it going against upper lottery talent? Discuss all tonight’s action in the comments below. Time: 6:30pm EST Location: Thomas and Mack Center, Las Vegas, NV TV: ESPN2