JT Thor
Anchorage’s JT Thor brought the thunder to last year’s NBA Summer League.
This year he made it rain.
The second-year NBA player buried a 23-foot jumper in sudden death to give the Charlotte Hornets an 89-86 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in a NBA Summer League game in Las Vegas.
Thor started at forward and finished with 12 points, none bigger than his corner 3-pointer on the final play of the game.
This was his first game-winner as a pro, but not his first highlight-reel play in the NBA Summer League.
Last year, Thor rejected a dunk attempt at the rim against the Toronto Raptors and two days later threw down a thunderous tomahawk jam against the Chicago Bulls.
This is what makes Thor so attractive – he can beat you from the post to the perimeter.
.@thorrjt called GAME!#NBA2k23SummerLeague | @NBA pic.twitter.com/nWo0kGDZLq
— NBA Summer League (@NBASummerLeague) July 11, 2022
And, remember, he’s only 19 years old.
As a NBA rookie last season Thor played in 33 games for the Hornets and totaled 67 points, 43 rebounds and 11 blocked shots. He was 7-of-27 from 3-point range.
Thor is one of four players Alaskans playing in the NBA Summer League. The others are Anchorage’s Daishen (Rockets) Nome’s Justinian Jessup (Warriors) and Anchorage’s Isiah Brown (Clippers).
Nix – Alaska’s only other current NBA player – pumped in 16 points and six assists to highlight Houston’s 90-89 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The 6-foot-5 point guard drained a 3-pointer to give the Rockets a 76-73 lead with 5:35 to play. The 20-year-old floor general also had two assists inside the final 1:07, including Josh Christopher’s layup with 10 seconds left that proved to be the game winner.
Nix has world-class court vision and routinely spoon feeds teammates for easy buckets at the rim.
Daishen Nix sends the nifty dime to Josh Christopher for the bucket
Live Now on ESPN 2 pic.twitter.com/wBvAvbczmA
— NBA (@NBA) July 10, 2022
Nix is back at the NBA Summer League, but this time under very different circumstances.
A year ago, he was in Vegas as an undrafted free agent struggling to get minutes with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Today, he returns with a multi-year NBA contract in his back pocket.
Daishen Nix
Last season he played in 24 games for the Rockets and twice bagged double figures with 11 points against Charlotte and 13 against the Denver Nuggets.
He also won a G League championship with Houston’s minor-league affiliate Rio Grande, pouring in 25.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and 9.5 assists in the two Finals games as the Valley Vipers swept the Delaware Blue Coats in the best-of-3 series.
The fact he’s playing summer league should surprise nobody. Despite the glam, Nix is still on the grind.
The same day the Rockets returned to Houston from a road trip to Toronto after the final NBA game of the season, Nix drove 5.5 hours one way to arrive in Rio Grande in time for that night’s G League Western Conference title game.
Justinian Jessup
Jessup is also a veteran of the NBA Summer League. The Warriors’ 2020 second-round draft pick averaged 12.4 points last year in Vegas and made 12-of-28 3-pointers.
Last week the 6-foot-7 forward scored 8.3 points in three games at the California Classic.
In his first summer league game, Jessup had seven points on 3-of-6 shooting against the New York Knicks. He was held scoreless in 11 minutes the next game against the San Antonio Spurs.
Jessup spent the last two seasons in Australia, where he averaged 13.4 points in 68 career games with the Illawarra Hawks.
His 325 career 3s at Boise State rank No. 2 on Alaska’s all-time list among college players, trailing only former Duke All-American Trajan Langdon (342).
Isiah Brown
Speaking of great college players, Brown averaged 17.7 points in the Big Sky Conference during the 2020-2021 season with Weber State.
The 6-foot-2 guard played professionally last season in Cyprus and earned an invitational to the NBA Summer League with the Clippers.
The Clippers played 14 players and Brown was called on to mop up a 94-76 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. He logged three minutes, grabbing two rebounds and going 0-of-2 from the field.
Brown is the son of former Bartlett High and UAA star Gerald Brown.