The Atlanta Hawks were in action on Independence Day, kicking off their summer league season with a matchup against no. 2 overall pick Darryn Peterson and the Utah Jazz.
With Kingston Flemings, Zuby Ejiofor and Henri Veesaar all making their Sumer League debuts, Saturday was the first opportunity for the Hawks to see their 2026 draft picks in action. In addition to their trio of draftees, last year’s first-round draft pick, Asa Newell was also in uniform for this one as he looked to build off a promising
rookie season. Starting fives below.
Peterson wasted no time introducing himself to his new fanbase — converting a pretty lay-in on a drive on Utah’s first possession of the game, and blocking Kingston Flemings on a fastbreak a few plays later.
With Utah off to a strong start, Asa Newell did a nice job keeping the Hawks in the game early on with a couple nice buckets early on.
Newell’s off the dribble game and outside shot are both areas of improvement for the 20-year-old ahead of his sophomore season, and the manner in which he scored his first two baskets of the game was sure to put some smiles on the faces of Hawks fans.
That said, the early portion of the game was all Utah, with the Jazz racing out to a 20-9 lead before Atlanta’s bench unit got them back in the game.
This three from second-round pick, Henri Veesaar, cut the Jazz lead to two — and Atlanta trailed 24-20 at the end of the first quarter.
Atlanta was sloppy to open the second quarter, with the lineup of Keshon Gilbert, Gabe Madsen, Isaac McKneely, Jacob Toppin and Henri Veesaar being outscored 13-3 in the first three-and-a-half minutes of the period, before Flemings and Newell returned to the game with Atlanta down by 14 points.
While Utah were the stronger team, Atlanta’s outside shooting kept them in the game, with the Hawks hitting five threes in the second quarter — including this corner bomb from no. 8 overall pick, Kingston Flemings.
It was good to see Flemings get on the board, but overall the rookie out of Houston had a tough time shooting the ball in his first Summer League action, going just 1-for-7 from the field in the first half — though it wasn’t all bad news as he did dish out 5 assists with no turnovers.
Still, the story of the first half was Darryn Peterson, who tallied 10 points on 4-for-9 shooting to lead all scorers, with Utah taking a 49-43 lead into the halftime locker room.
As one would expect from two teams making their Summer League debuts, turnovers were abundant in the first half with the two teams combining for 19 miscues in the first 20 minutes. Also of note, while the Hawks shooting picked up in the second quarter (7-for-19 from the perimeter in the first half), Utah did most of their damage on the interior in the first half, going 17-for-21 from the paint and just 1-for-8 from three.
Onto the third quarter, and it appears Kingston Flemings is a fast learner! Atlanta’s rookie guard got the quarter started with a nice pull-up from 15 feet, before finding Asa Newell for a slam and draining a three — all in the first two minutes of the period.
Feeding off Fleming’s play, Atlanta briefly took the lead at the 7:13 mark of the third quarter after a three from Keshon Gilbert, though it was short-lived as a Peterson triple a few possessions later put Utah back in front. The Jazz would keep Atlanta at arms length for the rest of the period and heading into the final frame, held a 78-70 lead.
With Atlanta down by 8 entering the final five minutes, Flemings assisted RayJ Dennis on a three from the wing to cut Utah’s lead to 5. After a miss from Utah on the other end, a put-back two from Ejiofor made it a three-point game, and Atlanta looked like they were going to make things interesting.
Then, on Utah’s next possession, this slam from Cody Williams dampened Atlanta’s spirits a bit, putting Utah back up by 5.
After trading free throws on the next few possessions, Darryn Peterson hit a three to put Utah up 7 with 1:26 remaining – and it seemed like Utah were going to see this one out. However Atlanta refused to quit fighting.
Asa Newell found Gabe Madsen for an easy two on the following possession. After a steal from Flemings, Kobe Johnson knocked down a free throw to cut the lead to four. Then, a traveling violation on Utah gave the ball back to the Hawks, and after a tip-in from Johnson, Utah’s lead stood at just two.
With Utah reeling, an offensive foul on Peterson gave Atlanta the ball back with momentum on their side. Asa Newell was fouled at the rim, and with a chance to tie the game up, went 1-for-2 from the line, giving Utah the chance to make it a two-possession game under a minute to play. However similar to their previous possessions, the Jazz struggled to take care of the ball and an errant pass from Max Abmas gave Atlanta the ball back with , and a transition three from Madsen (incredibly) put the Hawks up by two with 0:35 seconds remaining!
A shooting foul on Madsen on Utah’s next possession gave Abmas the chance to tie the ball game at the free throw line and after he sank both free throws, Atlanta had a chance to win it on the final possession of regulation. Unfortunately, Flemings jumper came up just short, which sent the game to a 2:00 overtime period.
Darryn Peterson got the scoring started in overtime, drilling this tough step-back three over Asa Newell.
With Atlanta trailing by five with under a minute to play, Flemings and Ejiofor connected on a pick-and-roll, cutting Utah’s lead to three. With the Jazz looking to kill the clock on one of their final possessions, Kingston Flemings came up with a clutch steal on Peterson, before drilling what he thought was the game-tying three with just 0:04 seconds on the shot clock — however the officials went to the monitor and ruled it a two, which meant it was Utah’s ball with Atlanta trailing by 1.
On the inbounds, Flemings fouled Justin Harmon on a driving lay-in which he converted and after the free throw, Utah led by 4 with 0:01 second on the clock. A miraculous three at the end of the game by Madsen cut the final margin to one, but it was too little too late, and the Hawks headed home with a heart-breaking 102-101 defeat in their Summer League opener.
It was an absolute treat of a game to open Summer League and despite the loss, there were a lot of positives to take away from this one for the Hawks. Kingston Flemings finished with 14 points, nine assists, four steals and just one turnover. Asa Newell tallied 15 points, five boards and three assists. Zuby Ejiofor went for eight points, 11 rebounds and three steals in his Hawks debut. Off the bench, Kobe Johnson was quite impactful in 22 minutes of action — finishing a team best +15 in the plus-minus column while playing stout defense. RayJ Dennis also poured in 13 points in just 12 minutes of playing time.
For Utah, Darryn Peterson looked every bit the part of a no. 2 overall draft pick, finishing with 28 points on 11-for-21 shooting (4-for-7 from three), though he did commit eight turnovers. Third year man, Cody Williams (drafted tenth overall in 2024) finished with 17 points and five rebounds.
Atlanta is back in action on Monday at 7PM EST, taking on the Oklahoma City Thunder in their second game of Salt Lake City Summer League. Until next time!
