Subscribe
Follow Us
The Dallas Mavs were very active in the 2023 NBA Draft. They took two players in the first round at picks 12 and 24. They used the 12th pick on Duke center Dereck Lively II and the 24th pick on Marquette guard Olivier-Maxence Prosper.
The NBA Summer League will start soon for the Mavs, as their first game is on July 8th against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Understandably, the most notable aspect of Summer League for the majority of Mavericks fans will be the opportunity to witness the two first-round picks in Dallas jerseys for the first time. But at least one Mavericks assistant coach disagrees with this notion.
Jared Dudley recently spoke to the media and shined a light on the importance of potential breakout star Jaden Hardy's development in the NBA Summer League, per a tweet from Callie Caplan:
“We have two first-round picks, but for us, summer league is about Jaden Hardy.”
Mavs assistant Jared Dudley after summer league practice Day 2: “We have two first-round picks, but for us, summer league is about Jaden Hardy.”
— Callie Caplan (@CallieCaplan) July 5, 2023
Jaden Hardy, 21, was a rookie in the 2022-23 season and has played one year in the NBA. He averaged 8.8 points, 1.9 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 0.4 steals, 0.1 blocks, 1.0 turnovers, and 1.3 personal fouls per game across 48 appearances in the 2022-23 season (five starts).
The Detroit, Michigan native shot the ball with great efficiency from behind the three-point arc in the 2022-23 campaign — Hardy converted 40.4% of his threes on 3.3 attempts per game.
A versatile scorer and lights-out shooter, Hardy may very well put up huge scoring numbers for the Dallas Mavericks in the 2023 NBA Summer League. Don't be surprised if he gets selected to one of the All-Summer League teams.
