Who: Summer Suns (3-1) vs. Summer Spurs (3-1)
When: 7:30 pm Arizona Time
Where: Thomas & Mack Center — Las Vegas, Nevada
Watch: Arizona Family Sports, Prime Video
This will be the Summer League “consolation” finale for the Phoenix Suns after they missed out on the semifinals.
Phoenix saw what they wanted to see from their top prospects in Khaman Maluach, Rasheer Fleming, and Koa Peat, as they will be sidelined for this one.
Phoenix has gone 3-1 through four contests, with these three leading the way:
- Khaman Maluach: 4 games, 19.5 PPG, 12.8 RPG (2.3 offensive), 1.0 APG, 2.0 BPG, 1.3 SPG on .532/.400/.684 shooting splits, 2.5 TOV in 27.4 minutes per game
- Koa Peat: 4 games, 16.8 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 2.3 APG, 1.5 SPG, 0.5 BPG on .510/.000/.625 shooting splits, 3.0 TOV in 27.2 minutes per game
- Rasheer Fleming: 4 games, 12.0 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 1.0 APG, 1.0 SPG, 1.0 BPG on .474/.421/.500 shooting splits, 1.8 TOV in 26.7 minutes per game
That
opens up more opportunities for Koby Brea to showcase his offensive repertoire and allows some of the other young bucks to get more looks with three of their top scorers sidelined.
Probable Starters
In the Summer League, you never know what the lineups might be, so the best we can do is guess, especially with the news of no Man Man, Peat, and Sheer. They’ll likely go with four guards/small wings and a big. Lots of small ball without those three in the mix.
Carter Bryant did not play in the Spurs’ win over the Utah Jazz earlier this week, so we can rule him out for the Spurs.
Suns
- Darius Brown II
- Koby Brea
- Devin Askew
- Javonte Cooke
- Reed Bailey
Spurs
- RJ Davis
- Ja’Kobi Gillespie
- Miles Kelly
- Maliq Brown
- Tarris Reed Jr.
Injury Report
Suns
- Nothing Reported as of now outside of the “key 3” sitting out
Spurs
- Nothing Reported as of now. No Carter Bryant expected on the Spurs end.
What to Watch For
The Koby Brea show?
It’s his time to shine. He has led the Summer Suns in minutes per game thus far, and has had little to show for it outside of drilling 6 threes against the Bucks.
There is some reason for concern if he doesn’t separate himself in this one. I don’t put a ton of stock into Summer League action, but an extended stretch of bad play is certainly not ideal from someone who should look advanced entering year two as a 23-year-old prospect.
Here’s a look at the Summer Suns’ numbers through the opening four games, sorted by minutes per game:
Who steps up?
With the top three scorers all sitting this one out, expect to see Javonte Cooke and Darius Brown Jr. to take on a larger role, along with Brea. Jameer Nelson Jr. and Corey Camper Jr. should also see an uptick in minutes.
They only have two other “bigs” on their roster who have hardly played to this point, so there should be plenty of small ball. Reed Bailey and Jake Stephens… now is your time to shine.
The Spurs will get the bulk of their offense from their dynamic backcourt of RJ Davis and Ja’Kobi Gillespie. We’ll see if 2026 1st round pick Tarris Reed Jr. suits up for the Spurs, though it seems unlikely. They acquired the 26th overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft from Denver for three 2nd round picks.
Either way, it figures to be a relatively loose environment with nothing on the line and several key players out on each side. I’m here for a Koby Brea 30-piece.
Prediction
It’s like throwing darts blindfolded.
Let’s go with the Spurs by 10. The shorthanded Summer Suns go down.
