{"id":796401,"date":"2026-07-12T23:28:31","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T23:28:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/796401\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T23:28:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T23:28:31","slug":"2026-nba-summer-league-pelicans-earn-wire-to-wire-win-over-suns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/796401\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 NBA Summer League: Pelicans Earn Wire-to-Wire Win Over Suns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2269898\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2269898\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/malik-dia-1920-2285233172.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\"  \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2269898\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Malik Dia put up 18 points and eight rebounds off the bench for the Pelicans.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 <a href=\"https:\/\/link.nba.com\/NBAapp_\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Download the NBA App<\/a><br aria-hidden=\"true\"\/>\u2022 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/summer-league\/2026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">2026 Summer League<\/a><br aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"height: 40px; width: auto; vertical-align: middle; display: inline;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1782882438_808_logo.png\" alt=\"New Orleans Pelicans logo\" height=\"40\"\/> Pelicans 81, <img decoding=\"async\" style=\"height: 40px; width: auto; vertical-align: middle; display: inline;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1782882434_991_logo.png\" alt=\"Phoenix Suns logo\" height=\"40\"\/> Suns 75: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/game\/phx-vs-nop-1522600024\/box-score\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Box Score<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/game\/phx-vs-nop-1522600024\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Game Detail<\/a><\/p>\n<p>LAS VEGAS \u2013 Malik Dia scored a game-high-tying 18 points to power the New Orleans Pelicans to a 81-75 victory over the Phoenix Suns at the Las Vegas Summer League on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Dia, who went undrafted in the 2026 NBA Draft, did a little bit of everything for the Pelicans. In 23 minutes off the bench, he compiled eight rebounds, two steals and two blocks with only two turnovers.<\/p>\n<p>New Orleans (2-1) held a 16-12 edge after the first quarter, and a 25-19 scoring advantage in the second gave them a 41-31 lead at halftime.<\/p>\n<p>The Suns managed to rally back and actually won the second half, 44-40, but the Pelicans played under control down the stretch and hit important free throws.<\/p>\n<p>The Suns started the game 0-for-13 from 3-point territory, and they finished 6-for-30 (20%) in the loss.<\/p>\n<p>The Pelicans knocked down 11 of their 34 attempts from behind the arc (32.4%) while winning the paint battle (40-26) and fast break points (15-8).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/pelicans\/photos\/jaron-pierre-jr-soutnern-methodist-2026-nba-draft-pick-7-new-orleans-pelicans-roster-meet-the-team-photos-2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jaron Pierre Jr.<\/a> supplied 16 points and three rebounds for New Orleans, and Kobe Bufkin added 15 points, four boards, two dimes and two steals, including a 4-for-4 clip at the charity stripe. Markquis Nowell filled the stat sheet with eight points, three rebounds, three dimes and four steals against one turnover.<\/p>\n<p>Darius Brown II went toe-to-toe with Dia to lead four Suns in double figures, dropping 18 points (7-for-12 FG), five rebounds and four assists.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/draft\/2025\/prospects\/khaman-maluach\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Khaman Maluach,<\/a> pick No. 10 in 2025, recorded a massive double-double with 15 points, 15 boards and two blocks, earning a +10 plus-minus in a contest where his team never led.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/draft\/2026\/prospects\/koa-peat\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Koa Peat (No. 30 in 2026)<\/a> impressed with 12 points, four boards, one assist and two steals, and Rasheer Fleming (No. 31 in 2025) amassed 11 points, four rebounds, two assists, one steal and two blocks.<\/p>\n<p>Phoenix (1-1) takes on the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday, while New Orleans (2-1) resumes play against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Malik Dia put up 18 points and eight rebounds off the bench for the Pelicans. \u2022 Download the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":796402,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,11957,85,5657,9391],"class_list":["post-796401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-pelicans","tag-sports","tag-summer-league","tag-suns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=796401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/796402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=796401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=796401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=796401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}