It’s become more common at the NBA Summer League for teams to bring back some of their first-round draft picks from the year before to get more reps toward their second season.
That’s what is happening for Orlando Magic guard Jase Richardson, who played two seasons at Bishop Gorman before playing his senior season at Columbus (Florida).
The Magic’s 2025 first-round pick is building off his NBA season. Richardson, a 6-foot-1 guard, has averaged 15 points as Orlando’s starting point guard through two Las Vegas Summer League games.
Richardson is one of nine players with ties to Las Vegas who have returned to the city for the 2026 NBA Summer League who played high school basketball locally or collegiately at UNLV.
On Saturday, Richardson had 15 points with six assists, no turnovers, and five rebounds in Orlando’s 93-88 win over Miami Saturday at Cox Pavilion.
“You got to keep turnovers low as a point guard. You’re the head of the snake,” Richardson said. “Making sure I’m not loose with the ball, making sure I’m not making crazy plays and crazy turnovers.
”My teammates trust with me having the ball. I have to get better for them.”
As a rookie last season, Richardson appeared in 54 games and averaged 4.4 points in just over 10 minutes averaged per game. Richardson, the son of 14-year NBA veteran Jason Richardson, also participated in the Slam Dunk Contest last February.
Jase Richardson said that, as a smaller guard, he’s focused on being more physical on defense to play well on both ends of the floor.
“I’m trying to be more of a pest on the ball, 94 feet, trying to do that as consistently as possible,” Richardson said on Thursday after Orlando’s 86-74 loss to Charlotte.
Orlando Summer League coach D.J. Bakker said Richardson, the Magic’s No. 25 overall pick in 2025 after one season collegiately at Michigan State, is embracing the challenge of stepping up his defense.
“He’s very unselfish. he’s done a great job of buying into that,” Bakker said. “His leadership … I was really proud of. He’s basically an extension of me out there. The way he carried himself was really good.
Ex-high school stars
A few former high school basketball stars made impacts on their Summer League teams.
Desert Pines High alum Milos Uzan, an undrafted free agent from Houston, came off the bench for the Boston Celtics on Friday and played 29 minutes in the team’s 83-80 overtime win over Toronto.
Uzan scored five points with five assists and four rebounds, with a +/- rating of +17 and had an assist on the Celtics’ 3-pointer that tied the game in the final seconds of regulation.
The 6-foot-4 guard was a four-star recruit who played his senior prep season (2021-22) in Arizona and his first two college seasons at Oklahoma (2022-24) before spending the last two seasons at Houston. Uzan’s father Mike coached Desert Pines to three state titles and older brother Capri is the Jaguars’ current head coach.
Centennial High alum Orlando Robinson is appearing on the Utah Jazz’s Summer League team. The 6-foot-10 center had 10 points and six rebounds in Utah’s 92-88 loss to Washington on Thursday. Robinson was undrafted out of Fresno State in 2022 and has appeared in 115 NBA games, averaging 4.6 points and 3.8 rebounds.
Durango High and UNLV alum Keshon Gilbert is making a Summer League return with the Atlanta Hawks. Gilbert had 10 points and five rebounds and five in Atlanta’s 93-66 win over San Antonio on Thursday. He appeared in four NBA games last season while splitting time with the Washington Wizards and Hawks organizations, primarily in the G-League.
Daishen Nix, who played at Trinity International in Las Vegas and played on the defunct G-League Ignite, is on the Houston Rockets Summer League squad. Nix scored 10 points in Houston’s 97-86 win over Denver on Friday. He spent last season with the Rocket’s G-League team, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.
Former Rebels
Donovan Williams played one season at UNLV (2021-22), but is back on campus with the Minnesota Timberwolves, looking to find his spot in the league.
Williams, a 6-foot-6 guard, had 12 points on a 5-of-10 shooting effort in 25 minutes on Thursday to help the Timberwolves open Summer League with a 105-92 win over the 76ers.
In 26 G-League games between the Westchester Knicks and Austin Spurs, this past season, Williams averaged 20.6 points and shot 50.4 percent from the floor. Williams, who started his college career at Texas, appeared in two NBA games in 2023, but has spent most of his professional time in the G-League.
Other former Rebels at Summer League include Keyshawn Hall (Miami Heat), Caleb Grill (Boston Celtics) and David Muoka (San Antonio Spurs).
Hall (a Rebel from one season in 2022-23) played in 15 minutes in the Heat’s loss to the Magic on Saturday and made one field goal.
Muoka (a Rebel from 2021-23) and Grill (2020-21) did not play in their respective teams’ opening Summer League games.
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
