Family reunions so rarely live up to expectations. Your uncle’s fork stabbed into your macaroni. A mildly racist conversation leaving nearby tables in an agonizing hush. Cody Williams posting a goose egg on the box score. We all know the feeling.
It was a Summer night to forget for the Utah Jazz Summer League squad, as the Los Angeles Clippers took their purple-clad Western Conference foes out behind the woodshed in a 22-point shellacking, a final score of 104-82 summing up the evening for an agonizing,
one-sided contest. This is Utah’s second loss at the Las Vegas leg of the summer circuit, coming after an undefeated stretch back in Salt Lake City.
Home court advantage, I guess?
In a draft class duel between Darryn Peterson (number two overall) and Keaton Wagler (number five overall), the headlining rookies matched the other’s scoring total, 23 points, on comparably ugly efficiency.
Peterson struggled through another night of cold shooting in the desert, combining for 12-of-36 efficiency between his two Vegas outings. He forced the issue regularly in this one, living off an unhealthy dose of stepback fallaways early in the shot clock, floaters through heavy traffic, and off-rhythm three-pointers. I know that off-beat, fluid offense has been Peterson’s M.O. since high school, but he hasn’t done himself any good by forcing the issue in Las Vegas.
Of course, that’s not to say he didn’t flash moments of stardom. This one-handed flush through the swinging tree branches is evidence to the contrary.
The shot hasn’t been there in the last two games — no reason to panic — but it’d be preferable to see Peterson’s aggression materialize in higher-percentage shot selection. He’s young, this is the Summer League, and I’m not going to read into this issue right now, but it’ll be a topic to keep tabs on as we approach the regular season, and on-ball time becomes a little harder to come by alongside a smattering of stars in the Jazz lineup.
Of those stars, Ace Bailey finally made his return to Summer League play tonight and clearly wasn’t ready. He scored 0 points in 8 minutes, quickly taking and missing five shots, despite posting a very nice defensive stat line of 1 block and 1 steal.
It was a defense-forward outing for the Jazz’s stars, with Peterson posting a pair of blocks and two steals himself, and Cody Williams — who also scored a disgusting total of 0 points in 23 minutes — tacking on a single steal in a vintage, turn-back-the-clock performance reminiscent of his abysmal rookie season. Nostalgia.
Fortunately, Peterson was a net-positive on the defensive end, and a solid five-assist, two-turnover game added to his resume.
It wasn’t pretty — in fact, I envy those of you who weren’t able to watch this blowout in real time — but Summer League is a setting for learning, growing, and shrugging off red flags.
Calvin Barrett is the Associate Editor for SLC Dunk. Originally from Springville, Utah, he currently lives in Japan and has covered the NBA and college athletics since 2024.
