Las Vegas Summer League to feature eight former Gonzaga, Washington State standouts

LAS VEGAS – One group of Zags will make way for another in Las Vegas when the NBA’s annual Summer League event begins Friday afternoon on UNLV’s campus.

As Gonzaga coach Mark Few and former players Kelly Olynyk and Andrew Nembhard split off Thursday morning to the next stop on their respective Olympic exhibition tours with USA and Canada, another group of Zags started trickling into town for the popular Summer League showcase that runs through July 22 at the Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion.

In total, four former GU players managed to find their way onto Summer League rosters. Gonzaga fans might elect to adopt one NBA team in specific, at least for the next 1½ weeks as games play out in front of big crowds in Las Vegas.

The Boston Celtics used one of their two draft picks on a former Zag, forward Anton Watson, and saved a Summer League roster spot for another, adding forward Killian Tillie to the 13-player squad the reigning NBA champions will be bringing to Vegas.

The former Gonzaga standouts briefly shared the court as teammates during the 2019-20 season and a preseason knee injury to Tillie allowed Watson to start the first four games of his college career before the Frenchman returned to the court in mid-November. Tillie and Watson played in 11 games together before the Gonzaga Prep product experienced a setback of his own, suffering a shoulder injury that sidelined him the remainder of the year.

Watson, who was selected with the 54th overall pick of the recent NBA draft, could be a candidate for a starting role on Boston’s Summer League team that features a handful of the franchise’s other recent draft picks, including Creighton’s Baylor Scheierman, Alabama’s JD Davison and Arkansas’ Jordan Walsh.

“I think Summer League’s going to determine a lot where they see me,” Watson told The Spokesman-Review on draft night. “I’ll probably play a lot in the G League, but that doesn’t mean I can’t work my way up and just develop. I think that’s the biggest thing, just become a better player.

For Tillie, it’s an chance to showcase why he deserves another opportunity in the NBA or G League after the Memphis Grizzlies waived the former undrafted free agent in October 2022. Tillie, who dealt with a series of injuries in college and the NBA, hasn’t played in a competitive setting since he was waived by Memphis and has resided in Spokane where he regularly trains at the Shoot 360 facility owned and operated by Gonzaga star Dan Dickau.

Boston plays one Summer League game before a highly anticipated showdown on Monday (7:30 p.m., NBATV) against the Los Angeles Lakers and Bronny James, who was selected one pick after Watson in the 2024 draft.

Coming off his rookie season with the Denver Nuggets, former first-round draft pick Julian Strawther returns to his hometown Vegas for his second Summer League appearance. Strawther made 53 regular-season and playoff appearances for Denver in 2023-24 and figures to be a top contributor for the Nuggets’ Summer League team. He could have opportunities to try his hand at point guard, according to coach Michael Malone.

“I’m super excited. I’ve been itching to play in Summer League ever since the season ended just to get back on the court,” Strawther told local media after a recent minicamp practice in Denver. “Toward the latter half of the season, I wasn’t in the rotation much, so I’m just itching to play. I’m hungry to play.”

Drew Timme shook off rust while playing for one of two teams the Sacramento Kings fielded at the California Classic, held at Sacramento’s Golden 1 Center and the Golden State Warriors’ Chase Center. Timme, who suffered a foot fracture midway through his rookie season with the G League Wisconsin Herd, closed the California portion of Summer League with 13 points and four rebounds against the Warriors on Wednesday. He opened the California Classic with a 10-point, 10-rebound effort against an international team from China.

Earlier in the week, Timme was listed on two rosters simultaneously – the Toronto Raptors and Sacramento Kings – but Toronto announced the forward was replaced by Cal’s Fardaws Aimaq, meaning Timme will remain with Sacramento through the duration of Summer League.

One of Timme’s frontcourt mates in Sacramento is Isaac Jones, an All-Pac-12 forward on Washington State’s 2024 NCAA Tournament team, and one of four former Cougars named to a Summer League roster.

Jones, who averaged 7.7 points and 5.3 rebounds for the Kings at the California Classic, will run into a familiar face on day one of Vegas Summer League when Sacramento squares off against WSU teammate Jaylen Wells and the Memphis Grizzlies at 3 p.m. Friday (NBATV).

Wells, the 39th overall pick of the NBA draft, made his debut in Memphis threads at Salt Lake City Summer League, delivering a winning floater against the Philadelphia 76ers as part of a 27-point outing.

Mouhamed Gueye, a second-round draft pick for the Atlanta Hawks, is returning to Summer League after a low-back stress fracture shortened his rookie season to six games.

Now a veteran of the Summer League event, former WSU forward Robert Franks returns to Vegas after missing out in 2023. Franks, who’s had previous Summer League stints with the Charlotte Hornets and Boston Celtics, is suiting up for the Phoenix Suns this week.

The Vancouver, Washington, native recently finished a professional season playing for the Nagoya Diamond Dolphins of Japan’s B.League.