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The 2026 NBA draft class has widely been regarded as one of the most talented groups of young prospects in recent memory. With several players projected to become franchise cornerstones, anticipation surrounding the NBA Summer League reached another level as the first opportunity to see those players go head-to-head before the regular season.
T-Mac is disappointed with the Summer League
While many of those prospects showed flashes of star potential, Tracy McGrady came away disappointed. According to the former scoring champ and Hall of Famer, the Summer League has evolved into little more than a showcase where top prospects display their talent for a few games before being shut down, rather than a competition where players genuinely strive to win. As a result, T-Mac admitted that he has largely lost interest in that event.
"It's a slow leak of death… because it was a lot of excitement about watching these drafties. We were locked in to see how great these guys perform. Now it's like you don't even know when they're going to play. They're going to play the first game or two, but then it's like after that you don't know if these guys are going to play," T0Mac said on his podcast. "So for me it's like I don't even watch Summer League as much as I used to because they're pulling the young guys."
The young studs performed
Darryn Peterson, the second overall pick by the Utah Jazz, enjoyed one of the most talked-about Summer League campaigns. He opened up with 28 points against the Atlanta Hawks and a 25-point, 12-assist double-double against the Memphis Grizzlies.
In a star-studded showdown, he dropped 24 points against the No. 1 overall pick, AJ Dybantsa, and then dropped a 15-point performance against the Spurs.
Then Caleb Wilson, the fourth overall pick by the Chicago Bulls, had one of the most iconic individual Summer League campaigns. He scored a record-setting 35 points in his debut and then followed it up by averaging 19.6 points and eight rebounds over the next three games.
The third overall pick by the Grizzlies, Cameron Boozer, was key to the team making the run to the Summer League Final. He opened his campaign with 15 points against the OKC Thunder, then dropped 20.5 points over the next two games.
In the semifinal contest against the Houston Rockets, he dropped a 12-point, 12-rebound double-double to help the team register a 101-90 win. And in the Finals against the Warriors, he dropped 19 points and eight rebounds.
Lastly, AJ Dybantsa, the No. 1 overall pick, had an incredibly optimistic Summer League debut when he dropped a game-high 27-point performance against the Jazz. And he later humbled the Sacramento Kings with a 23-point, seven-rebound performance to lead the Wizards to a 104-85 victory.
Rookie stars were cautious in Summer League
There is no denying that each of these prospects demonstrated why they were selected near the top of the draft and possess the ability to change the fate of their franchise. However, McGrady's frustration stems from the fact that few of them actually played through the entire tournament.
Dybantsa appeared in just two games before sitting out the final three. Peterson also missed three games. Wilson sat out one game, while Boozer missed one contest as well.
Put simply, for T-Mac, that trend reflects how the Summer League landscape has changed. Rather than serving as a proving ground where rookies relentlessly step out on the floor for their team, most of them wanted to make brief appearances.
