To say Kasparas Jakucionis stumbled out of the starting gate in the NBA Summer League would be an understatement.
The NBA Summer League kicked things off with a couple of smaller summer league displays, one in California and the other in Salt Lake City. Jakucionis’ Heat squad received the chance to play out in California, so this was the first chance we got to see him in an NBA uniform.
Let’s just say, his performance was less than stellar. Jakucionis played in three games out in California, and he averaged 4.0 points, 2.0 assists, and 2.0 rebounds per contest. He also added a whopping 4.0 turnovers in each game.
This understandably got Heat fans worried. I saw plenty of dialogue about the Miami rotations for next season, and there were people leaving Jakucionis off the first two rotations.
In the midst of the struggles, I wrote an article about not giving up on Jakucionis. The star Illini guard didn’t play well, but I didn’t want Miami fans to have buyer’s remorse. Things were going to get better.
On Friday afternoon, in the first game of the main Las Vegas Summer League, the world got to see what Illinois’ guard was all about. Jakucionis came out and played incredibly well, and lit the world on fire for the first time.
Jakucionis finished the close loss to the Atlanta Hawks with a team-high 24 points to go along with his four rebounds, four assists, and two steals. Better yet, the 19-year-old only had two turnovers in the entire 28 minutes on the court.
Kasparas Jakucionis’ shooting worries were put to bed on Friday
I realize a lot of Miami fans haven’t watched a ton of Illinois basketball. The most they saw of Jakucionis were highlights, and those don’t show struggles.
Jakucionis isn’t a bad shooter. His shot is at its best in transition when the defense is trying to get back and get organized. Through the first three games in California, Jakucionis couldn’t display that talent. He went 0-of-11 from beyond the three-point arc.
That all changed on Friday, too. Jakucionis finally got out of his funk, and the Heat scored more transition buckets. This enabled him to thrive, going 5-of-9 from three-point range, which accounted for nearly half of Miami’s three-point buckets.
The narrative that Jakucionis won’t be good for the Heat needs to calm down. He is allowed to have some struggles. This kid can’t even legally drink yet. The display we saw on Friday is only a glimpse of things to come for this budding superstar.