The NBA Summer League has wrapped up, and in classic fashion, the league has picked an MVP and an All-Summer League first and second team. Based on the selections, there apparently was not much thought or consideration given to who received which honor. The Golden State Warriors rookie, Yaxel Lendeborg out of Michigan, took home the league MVP award, but not for having the best summer.
Lendeborg played well, but the MVP was solely for his performance in the championship game, where he scored 21 points and had 10 rebounds in a 94-90 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. For the summer, he averaged 17.2 points and six rebounds, shooting 50.8% from the floor (40.9% from three). As the MVP, he was naturally also selected to the first team, but some of the selections are head-scratchers.
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To his credit, Lendeborg did play in five games, while some players only played three. Cameron Boozer from the Grizzlies also played in five games, made the first team, and, like the MVP, also averaged fewer than 20 points per game. Thanks to a couple of games scoring just 12 points, Boozer finished the summer averaging 17.6 points and 8.4 rebounds. He only shot 43.1% from the field, which is less than expected for someone who plays his position the way that he plays it.
It’s clear he was chosen for name recognition. The league apparently feels that if the first-team players weren’t top picks, maybe the fans wouldn’t take it seriously, unlike if players are chosen for how popular they are. One player that doesn’t fit that mold and still made the first team (and deserved the MVP) was Cleveland Cavaliers second-round pick (34th overall) Meleek Thomas.
The 6’5 guard out of Arkansas averaged a league-leading 27.3 points per game, scoring over 30 twice in four games. He shot 50% from the field, including 43.8% from deep. Maybe he was snubbed for the top player award because his team went 3-2, while the Warriors squad went 5-1. The reason for some of the choices the league made is still unclear. Liam McNeely from the Charlotte Hornets and Egor Demin from the Brooklyn Nets made the second team, even though both players only played in three games.
McNeely made the squad because of his 28-point debut (thanks to going 7 of 8 from three), but he didn’t do much to impress after that first game. Phoenix Suns 2025 first-round pick (10th overall) Kaman Malauch made the second team, but should have been on the first. He averaged 19.5 points and 12.8 rebounds per game, even shooting 40% from behind the arc.
Malauch and Joan Beringer (Timberwolves) were the only players to average double-doubles, and averaged is used loosely because Beringer only played in one game.
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A couple of players who were more deserving to make one of the all-league squads were Jaylen Slawson and Seth Lundy. Slawson, a 2023 second-round pick, played four games for the Indiana Pacers squad, scoring 20 or more in every one of them. He finished the summer averaging 22.3 points and 6.5 rebounds, on 50% shooting 931.8% from three).
Lundy is a player it’s extremely hard not to root for. A second-round pick out of Penn State in 2023, the 6’4, 220-pound guard was set to sign with the Clippers before a serious ankle injury caused him to miss the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons. He played four games for the Toronto Raptors in the Summer League, averaging 20 points per game on 52% shooting (43.8% from three).
In a world where people won’t remember the regualr season MVP five years from now, maybe it’s a waste of time to stress about who won preseason awards. It’s hard not to be frustrated, though, when fans see players win awards and get accolades they didn’t deserve, and the players who did deserve them get nothing.
