San Antonio Spurs: What can past greats in the Summer League teach us about the future?

Leonard: The year two breakout

Second-year players in the Summer League have historically fared well, if the Most Valuable Player winners serve as any indication.

Since 2012, six of the last eight Summer League MVPs winners have gone to players with at least one year of NBA experience under their belts (the exception being Josh Hart in 2017 and Brandon Clarke this year).

Such was the case for Kawhi Leonard, who, after becoming a key cog in a 1-seeded Spurs machine in 2011, took to dominating the Summer League in 2012.

One Pounding the Rock column written at the time went as far as jokingly calling Leonard’s play in the exhibitions that year “cheating.”

"“These are games to 22 where the guy will score 20 of the points in a 4-on-4 or 5-on-5 half-court game, even though he’s being doubled at all times and the only time he doesn’t score is if he feels like being merciful and getting his teammates involved or happens to brick a long three. Really, there isn’t much cardiovascular exercise to be had in games like this, because I’m just basically standing behind the three point line, hoping the guy will pass out of the double. It’s like every Miami Heat game, basically. And that, in a nutshell, is the Spurs summer league: A homeless man’s Miami Heat, with Leonard as LeBron James‘ stand-in.”"

It’s worth noting that because of the 2011 lockout (and the cancelling of that year’s Summer League), that Leonard had an edge.

Speaking to the difference between scoring on say, Tony Allen in a playoff game versus John Jenkins in the Summer League proved to be massive. As a result, Leonard produced well.

The Spurs only had Leonard play in two of the Spurs exhibition games, and he produced at an excellent rate for the sample size.

By the end of the Orlando and Vegas Summer League, Leonard ranked second among all players in scoring (25.0), trailing only Portland’s Damian Lillard. He also averaged 6.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game on 47.2 percent from the field.

For Spurs fans, the hope is that bridge between Leonard’s rookie year and Summer League dominance have a similar effect on a player like Lonnie Walker IV.

After missing the start of the 2018-19 season with a torn meniscus, Walker produced at such a rate that Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report ranked him as the absolute best player Summer League, mentioning Walker’s offensive dominance at every level.

For inspiration, Walker can look at Leonard’s statistical increase across the board as a potential sign that he’s on the right track. By year two, Leonard played more postseason minutes than any other Spur, on a team that came a few shots away from the NBA championship.

And then, there’s the other side: there’s always a chance that the struggles and successes of the Summer League could be merely an afterthought in just a few months.

It leaves us one thing for certain, though. Training camp and the preseason just can’t come soon enough.