Sports

Final Cleveland Cavaliers summer league grades and evaluations

Cleveland Cavaliers On SI · Jul 21, 2026 18:47 · 3 min read

Final Cleveland Cavaliers Summer League Grades and Evaluations — Apr 12, 2026; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward Nae'qwan Tomlin (35) drives to the basket against Washington Wizards guard Bub Carrington (7) during the second half at Rocket Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Summer basketball is over now as the Summer League has come to a close. How did the Cleveland Cavaliers summer talent perform?

When watching the Cleveland Cavaliers Summer League campaign, Meleek Thomas is more than likely the first name that comes to mind, but what about some of the other guys on the roster that played a good amount of time.

Xaivian Lee & Rashaun Agee - D

Lee and Agee played their role and I can give them that, but they do not look like they would make a major impact in the NBA at least.

Agee showed out with his rebounding, he was the best overall rebounder on the team and Lee was a good playmaker, but not for himself.

Riley Minix & Jaxson Robinson - C

Minix and Robinson played a very similar role. Minix went through a bad shooting slump the entire time. He had one solid 15 point performance against the Pelicans, but shot 1-20 from 3 in the first four games.

Jaxson Robinson however was the opposite, he was very successful in his jumpshot. Shooting nearly 40% from 3 in his games and impressed off the bench averaging 9 points a game himself.

Ernest Udeh, Jr. & Malaki Branham - B

Branham being the most experienced player on the roster really helped him gain a good position for the 2026 season on the Cleveland Charge.

In the one game Meleek Thomas missed, he made sure to be the number one guy averaging 15 points and 42% from 3. He has that pro level scoring that the team needed when Thomas was off.

Udeh struggled early, but by the end of it, was a massive difference maker on defense. He was not asked to be a dynamic player on the offense so it helped that his 2.2 blocks and 1.3 steals was how he got himself a two-way contract for this season.

Meleek Thomas & Nae’Qwon Tomlin - A

Easily the most obvious high end performances came from Nae’Qwon Tomlin and Meleek Thomas.

Tomlin dominated all of his matchups inside the paint. He averaged 18.5 points a game and looked like he was really putting in the work in the offseason to develop and improve his jump shot.

With the departure of Keon Ellis and Dean Wade, it was likely he would only get a few games which explains why he sat the rest of the way. Those two games just happened to be major ones for him.

Meleek Thomas however, is a different story altogether. Picked 34th in this year's draft, he had something to prove. He made the Summer League First Team and averaged 27.4 points, the most amongst the players.

Finishing with the third highest scoring average in Summer League history behind fellow Cavalier Donovan Mitchell and Marcus Banks in 2007 who averaged 40 a game.

Ian Martinez, Trevon Spillers, Tristan Enaruma, Sean East II, and Dane Goodwin went ungraded due to not having enough time on the court.

As we approach the 2026 season, Meleek Thomas’ role with the team needs to be deeply considered with Dennis Schroder sitting on the trade block and a potential LeBron James reunion.