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It was storylines galore on day two of the NBA Summer League when the Oklahoma City Thunder and Dallas Mavericks. Many eyes were on OKC guard Cason Wallace and Dallas center Dereck Lively II, who were swapped for each other on draft night while last year top pick Chet Holmgren made his Las Vegas summer league debut.
Wallace’s scoring punch provided the necessary gas to put the finishing touches on a, 91-80, win over Lively’s Mavs Saturday, July 8 from the Thomas & Mack Center.
“This was my first time playing with the guys,” he said. “It was definitely fun and I’m just glad to be here. This moment was great for me.”
Both lottery picks found themselves involved in the offense early from the opening tip of the game. Wallace was drafted 10th overall by Dallas as part of a deal to send him along with veteran forward Davis Bertans to Oklahoma City for Lively, who was the 12th pick of the first round.
Lively had a storyline matched up across from him in Holmgren. Through the first couple of minutes into the game, Lively held Holmgren scoreless but he’d soon break out for five straight points on an alley-oop and three-pointer.
“I always feel like myself,” Holmgren said. “I’m going to make mistakes whether I just played 82 games or played zero games. I just have to learn from them and not make them again.”
Holmgren missed all of last season with a foot injury that kept him out of last year’s summer league as well.
“It’s amazing,” Holmgren said. “Win, lose or draw, whatever. It’s just great to be out there.”
Returning with his defensive prowess still intact, Holmgren’s presence began to make opposing players hesitate on shot attempts including Lively.
Holmgren finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds for his second double-double in three outings this summer. On the other hand, Lively ended his night with four points and five rebounds in just over 16 minutes on the floor.
Wallace led OKC in scoring with 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting including six made threes to go along with two steals. Five of those threes came in the first half with two falling in the first four-plus minutes of the game.
As a team, the Thunder shot 44% from deep while holding their opponent to 29% on the other end of the court. The final nail in the coffin came in the form of a halfcourt buzzer-beating three from Wallace with OKC already up double-digits.
Despite the Thunder playing three games in the Salt Lake City Summer League, Wallace was playing in his first game with his new team.
“It felt great just being out there having fun with the team,” he said. “[I was] shooting the ball well, my teammates found me. It was just fun being out there.”
Wallace’s added offensive boost allowed fellow backcourt guard Tre Mann to take a backseat in the scoring role, closing the night with 11 points on 50% shooting.
On the other end, Wallace was rivaled by second-year player Jaden Hardy, who shined for Dallas.
“I was really just trying to go out there and let the game come to me,” Hardy said. “Trying to make the right plays and get my teammates involved while still trying to be aggressive at the same time.”
Hardy led all scorers with 24 points on 8-of-18 from the floor with four threes and six rebounds. No one on the Mavs had more than 11 points recorded on the night.
Last season, he spent half of the year in the G League as a member of the Texas Legends while the Dallas parent team worked on creating roster space for him to be called up. In total, Hardy played 48 games last season with five starts with 46 of those games coming in December or later.