Now that summer league is concluding and the NBA officially begins its dark period, the stars from Las Vegas must be acknowledged because some unexpected players made big splashes.

The number of rooks spotlighted for each team will vary. Every first-round pick who suited up will receive a grade. Second-rounders will be prioritized for teams without a top-30 selection. For squads without any drafted rookies whatsoever, we'll default to the newbie who is either most intriguing, played the most or both.

The Utah Jazz didn't get to see a full slate of summer league action from their fifth-overall pick in Ace Bailey across their time in both Salt Lake City and Las Vegas, as the rookie wound up missing six of his eight total contests due to a hip injury, dampening a bit of the immediate hype to surround the Rutgers product.

LAS VEGAS — Rookie Kon Knueppel’s team-high 21 points and a lightning-fast start helped fuel the Charlotte Hornets to a hard-fought 83-78 win over the Sacramento Kings in the NBA 2K26 Summer League championship game at Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas on Sunday night.

This is the Goodman League, in the heart of Southeast Washington’s Barry Farm neighborhood. This is where the old Barry Farm Community Summer Basketball League operated from its founding in 1977 to 1995.

This article was originally published on www.si.com/nba/hornets as Charlotte's Summer League title offers early validation of Hornets’ rebuilding blueprint. There hasn't been much to celebrate in recent years when it comes to the Charlotte Hornets.

Second-year Rockets guard Reed Sheppard wasn’t very efficient at summer league, but he still managed to turn heads, per Michael Pina of The Ringer.

Here’s how Missouri basketball grads Tamar Bates, Caleb Grill and Kobe Brown performed in this year’s NBA Summer League.