Wizards Finish 2022 NBA 2K23 Summer League 3-2

On Sunday night, the Washington Wizards wrapped up their schedule in the 2022 NBA2K 23 Summer League. With the 87-77 victory over the Golden State Warriors, the Wizards brought their final record for the summer showcase to 3-2.

While not great, 3-2 looks a lot better if you consider they were sitting at 1-2 after their first three games played. Instead of fading out due to their weak start in Las Vegas, the Wizards won back-to-back games to ensure they’d finish the tournament with a winning record.

In those wins against the Warriors and Indiana Pacers, Washington played without two players that were expected to be key in their summer league rotation. Tenth overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, Johnny Davis, and big man Vernon Carey Jr., both missed the final two games for the Wiz.

It opened up opportunities for other players and naturally, guys made the most out of those opportunities. In the fifth and final game, it was Jaime Echenique who seized the opportunity the most.

The big man out of Wichita State put up 19 points to go with 12 rebounds. He blocked two shots as well but most impressively, Echenique knocked down 9-10 free throw attempts. This was just one game after he went 4-7 from the charity stripe. He did hit 81.4 percent of his FTAs last season.

After spending last season with the Wizards G-League affiliate, the Capital City Go-Go, Echenique looks like one of the many players from the summer league roster that could be on the Go-Go’s roster this upcoming season.

Overall, it’s impossible not to classify the Wizards summer league performance as a disappointment despite their winning record. Some of the key players both fans and the front office wanted to get a look at didn’t play in all the games and were far from stellar when they did suit up.

It’s important to not put too much stock into the summer league, but it’s still preferred to see more out of up-and-coming prospects. Davis and Carey Jr. only playing in three out of the five games certainly limited how much Wizards fans would be able to get out of the tournament in general.

One positive was Jordan Schakel, who played in all five games and had multiple solid performances. His final game wasn’t anything that jumps out of the box score, but that could partially be because his minutes were down as the team feels more than confident in what he can and will bring on the two-way contract he is currently signed to.

With a +/- of +5.8, it’s simply true that the Wizards had one of the stronger team performances in Las Vegas. Hopefully, momentum can slowly build from this for both the NBA roster as well as the team’s G-League roster.