Keaton Wagler played two NBA Summer League games. Two. And fans have already labeled the No. 5 overall pick a bust.
Get a grip.
The Illinois product came into the draft as a consensus top-five pick in a class that many considered to have one of the best first foursomes in recent memory. AJ Dybantsa went No. 1 to the Wizards. Darryn Peterson went No. 2 to the Jazz. Cameron Boozer went No. 3 to the Grizzlies. Wagler slid to five with the Clippers, and the summer league hate has been immediate.
His debut against Sacramento was rough. He shot 1-of-7 from the field, put up 7 points, and finished at team-worst minus-23 while Darius Acuff Jr. dominated the other end. Fair criticism. That was a bad game. Rookies have bad games.
Sunday against Utah started even worse. Wagler was 2-of-9 with 5 points at halftime. Fans on X were sounding the alarms. Somebody called him “legitimately scared out there.” Somebody else predicted he could not handle NBA-level ball pressure. The Clippers fanbase was collectively wondering if they had wasted the fifth pick.
Then Wagler dropped 18 points in the third quarter, including a nasty stepback jumper to put the Jazz in a 77-54 hole. He finished with 23 points and 4 assists in a 104-82 blowout win. He matched the output of No. 2 pick Darryn Peterson, who scored 23 on worse shooting.
Suddenly the same people who called him a bust were “not convinced.” Contested stepbacks and midrange shots are not consistent bets in summer league, they said. He cannot drive past NBA defenders, they said. He looks like a catch-and-shoot guy at best, they said.
Here is the reality. You cannot evaluate a teenager’s entire career on two summer league games. That is not how this works. It has never been how this works. Some of the best NBA players in history were dreadful in summer league. Kawhi Leonard barely got minutes. Giannis Antetokounmpo was a raw and skinny project. Draymond Green looked like a second-round throwaway.
Wagler has legitimate concerns worth watching. His athleticism at the NBA level is a real question. His inability to consistently get to the rim against physical defenders showed up on tape at Illinois. If those questions do not get answered as he grows up in the league, then yes, you have a problem in Los Angeles.
But summer league is not the place to answer those questions. Guys are getting cardio in. Rotations are wonky. Coaching is thin. Games are basically pickup with better refs. Judging Wagler on two summer league performances is like judging a chef on how they handle a microwave.
The Clippers do not need Wagler to be a superstar right away anyway. They still have Kawhi Leonard on the roster if the trade with Toronto ultimately falls apart because of the Aspiration investigation. They still have James Harden if he wants to keep pushing his career. They have Norman Powell, Ivica Zubac, and now a top-five rookie who can score.
The Wagler pick was about the future. Kawhi is 34. Harden is 36. Powell is 32. The Clippers have to start planning for the post-Kawhi era, and Wagler was drafted to be a piece of it.
Give the kid a full season before you write him off. Maybe give him a decade. The Wagler bust discourse is exactly why summer league takes should carry a disclaimer.
Draft season already treats prospects like commodities. Fans should not do the same three weeks into their careers.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
