Keyonte George and the Utah Jazz are now done with 2023 NBA Summer League, and we’ve learned some things. The former Baylor freshman showed off many of the skills that made him the No. 16 pick in the NBA Draft. In fact, he played so well in Las Vegas that the Jazz’s biggest concern about George’s NBA Summer League performance is that the magic won’t last.

The Jazz’s biggest concern about Keyonte George after 2023 NBA Summer League is that his performance was a mirage

Keyonte George had one of the best 2023 NBA Summer League performances in the entire league. His numbers in Vegas were 24.9 points, 6.3 assists, 2.7 rebounds, and 1.3 steals per game over the course of three games. He also shot 44.4% from 3-point range, going 12-of-27 from behind the arc and 52.3% from the field.

Cam Whitmore of the Houston Rockets, the Villanova star who fell from the projected top-10 to No. 20 in the 2023 NBA Draft won the NBA Summer League MVP Award, but he played three more games than George.

George still made the first-team NBA 2K24 All-Summer League along with Whitmore, Sam Merrill (Cleveland Cavaliers), Orlando Robinson (Miami Heat), and Hunter Tyson (Denver Nuggets). And all those players played at least one (if not two or three) more games than the young Jazz prospect.

Coming out of Baylor, we all knew the 6-foot-4 guard could shoot and score. But in NBA Summer League, he also ran the point and created shots for his teammate, which makes it seem like he can be a starting-caliber lead guard in the league.

Now, making first-team All-Summer League is great, but it doesn’t necessarily guarantee success at the next level. In the last three years (minus 2020, when there was no Summer League), the players to make these teams looked like this:
2022: Keegan Murray (MVP), Tari Eason, Quentin Grimes, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Cam Thomas
2021: Cam Thomas (Co-MVP), Davion Mitchell (Co-MVP), Jalen Johnson, Trey Murphy III, Payton Pritchard, Jalen Smith, Obi Toppin
2019: Brandon Clarke (MVP), Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Jarrett Allen, Kendrick Nunn, Mitchell Robinson

When you look at this list, you’ll see several second-year players, but there are plenty of rookies who have already become solid to good NBA players. That includes Murray, Eason, Mitchell, Murphy, Clarke, Alexander-Walker, Allen, and Nunn.

However, there is one player who is on the list above twice, and his name (and game) brings up the biggest cause of concern for Keyonte George on the Jazz.

Cam Thomas is built for NBA Summer League. The 10-day run in Vegas is a glorified pickup game for some of the best basketball players in the world. Thomas is a ball-dominant (hog?) scorer who is going to put up points in any meaningless game he plays in.

However, when you put him in an NBA game where things like defense and playmaking matter, he’s a below-average player. Last season with the Brooklyn Nets, Thomas averaged 10.6 points, 1.4 assists, and 1.1 turnovers playing just 16.6 minutes per game in 57 games.

Additionally, when he was on the floor, he has a 27.8% usage rate. And while he didn’t play enough to qualify for the true NBA leaderboard in this category, that number would put him T-28 in the league with Jordan Clarkson and DeMar DeRozan (and ahead of players like Rookie of the Year Paolo Banchero, Jalen Brunson, two-time MVP Nicola Jokic, Kawhi Leonard, and others).

Cam Thomas is built for NBA Summer League. Now the Jazz have to hope that Keyonte George is not the same type of player.

George is a scoring force. He can go to the hoop, shoot from the outside, and has a midrange pull-up game that is rarely seen in the modern NBA. All those skills could be great in the league. However, they could be NBA Summer League skills that won’t translate in the pros.

This is a possibility and could be a concern for the Jazz. That said, there is so much more that George showed in his game this summer that likely puts him in the Keegan Murray, Davion Mitchell, Kendrick Nunn category than the Thomas camp.

George was great on the ball and created shots both for himself and others. And his potential as a playmaker is what sets him apart from a pure scorer who can score easier in Summer League than in the real league. Also, his shooting 44.4% from 3-point range gives him potential as a shooting specialist at the beginning of his career if the other areas come around slowly. That’s another thing Thomas doesn’t excel at, shooting 31.9% from deep in his NBA career.

The Keyonte George Jazz NBA Summer League performance left little concern for the franchise. And unless it was a total mirage, he should be an All-Rookie candidate in 2023.