Joshua Jefferson had to wait a few days before he would make his debut in the NBA Summer League.<\/p>\n
Traded on draft night from Minnesota to Brooklyn, the Liberty High graduate missed the California Summer League.<\/p>\n
Once the trade cleared, Jefferson, fittingly, made his Summer League debut for the Nets in his hometown.<\/p>\n
Jefferson, a 6-foot-9 forward, was a first-round pick at 28th overall in last month\u2019s draft. He made his Summer League debut on Saturday night and scored nine points in 26 minutes in Brooklyn\u2019s 83-76 loss to Atlanta.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was frustrating,\u201d Jefferson said of not being able to play in the Nets\u2019 first four Summer League games (three in Northern California and one in Las Vegas).<\/p>\n
\u201cThe one beneficial things I could do was get mental reps and make sure I\u2019m learning the plays and everything. Just trying to learn as much as I can from the sidelines. The game reps are going to help me just continue to get better and keep on going up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jefferson made his second Summer League appearance on Tuesday, scoring nine points and recording two steals in 18 minutes off the bench.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a lot of fun,\u201d Jefferson said Tuesday after Brooklyn rolled to a 115-83 over the Sacramento Kings. \u201cI think the most important thing here is getting reps. Not getting too high or low but just continuing to play through all the ups and downs that are going to come, but I\u2019m having a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Everything happens for a reason\u2019<\/p>\n
As a forward who primarily plays on the perimeter, Jefferson showcased his athleticism Tuesday with a steal and score, putting an up-and-over move to get past a Kings defender in transition for the basket in the first quarter. Jefferson also had a transition, one-handed dunk in the second half.<\/p>\n
\u201c(The scoring), is something that we want from him,\u201d Brooklyn Summer League coach Dutch Gaitley said. \u201cHis ability to get into the paint, finish for himself, but also make plays for others.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, Gaitley said, the focus for Jefferson is to use his size on both ends of the floor.<\/p>\n
\u201cUsing that physicality to get in the paint \u2013 but we have to help him with his understanding of defensive concepts,\u201d Gaitley said. \u201cIncreasing his physicality and feeling comfortable shooting 3-pointers, once he gets those things down, the sky\u2019s the limit for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jefferson was a second-team All-American and first-team All-Big 12 selection last year as a senior with Iowa State while averaging 16.4 points per game. But Jefferson\u2019s year ended during the first round of the NCAA Tournament after he suffered a sprained left ankle.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was out two-and-a-half, three weeks and then had to get back to training right away,\u201d Jefferson said of the draft process. \u201cIt was a really fast rehab \u2026 I think I did well throughout that, managing the pain, making sure I\u2019m getting my body right and my rehab.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt sucks it ended that way, but everything happens for a reason.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Best version of myself\u2019<\/p>\n
At Liberty, Jefferson was the Nevada Preps boys athlete of the year his senior year in 2022. He starred on the Patriots team that beat Bishop Gorman 63-62 in overtime to win the Class 5A state title.<\/p>\n
Liberty had lost to Gorman three times that season before the title game. The loss was the only defeat for a nationally-ranked Gorman team that season and ended the Gaels\u2019 run of nine straight titles.<\/p>\n
Jefferson said at Liberty during his senior year, he learned leadership skills that were building blocks for him to play at a high level at college. Jefferson became the first Las Vegas player since Liberty grad Julian Strawther (Denver in 2023 at 29th overall) to be taken in the first round.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s not a lot of Vegas NBA players, so to etch my name into that means a lot,\u201d said Jefferson, who started his college career at Saint Mary\u2019s (2022-24) and played his last two seasons at Iowa State. \u201cHopefully I can continue to leave my legacy in Vegas and build it up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jefferson joins a Brooklyn team that went 20-62 last year. But Jefferson is optimistic about the young core in Brooklyn (with guards Mikel Brown Jr. and Egor Demin), and veteran additions (Michael Porter Jr. and Julius Randle), the team could be competitive.<\/p>\n
\u201c(I want to) be the best version of myself,\u201d Jefferson said. \u201cI\u2019m going to accept any role that they give to me and continue to be a great shooter or on-ball defender \u2014 all the little things that I\u2019m going to need to do to stay on the floor.<\/p>\n
\u201cI trust the plan that the Nets have for me, so I\u2019m going to continue to work hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com<\/a>. Follow @AlexWright1028<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joshua Jefferson had to wait a few days before he would make his debut in the NBA Summer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-296265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}