While summer league is a small sample size and what players do in this format should be more times that not be taken with a grain of salt. That’s not the case with Khaman Maluach; instead, his four summer league games showed he may be poised to break out in his second season. For more summer league coverage, read this article by us.
Saying he balled out would be putting it lightly, in four appearances Maluach averaged 19.5 points, 12.8 rebounds, 1 assist, 1.2 steals, and 2 blocks per game. With shooting splits of 53.2% from the field and 40% on three-pointers.
In addition to rounding out his summer league showing with a 70% true shooting percentage. But what did Maluach specifically show in his summer league outing?
As a rookie this past season he didn’t receive a lot of playing time with the Suns. As he suited up for forty-six games this season and only played a hair close to nine minutes per game.
Maluach, in the minutes he did play last season, showed he’s a prospect who’s a ball of clay that is going to need time to be properly molded. This is evident with his rim finishing, which will be the former Duke Blue Devil’s primary way of scoring.
But during his summer league games, Maluach showed he’s going to improve in a big way with his finishing at the rim. It’s not only the fact that he shot better at the rim, but he looked like a man amongst boys.
In his first summer league game against the Blazers, he had two dunks over former first-round pick from last year’s draft, Yang Hansen. With the two being alley-oop slams, one coming in transition and the other out of a pick and roll.
In his second game against the Pelicans, Maluach scored on a putback dunk after securing an offensive rebound after Rasheer Fleming missed a three-pointer. Then in that same game, he had an emphatic dunk finishing all over the New Orleans center after setting a ball screen.
In his third game against Detroit, after his teammate missed a free throw, Khaman grabbed the offensive rebound and proceeded to go back up for a layup, which he missed, but he got his own rebound and went back up again. That time, he dunked it with authority. The multitude of ways Maluach was finishing wasn’t just impressive but dominant.
Khaman showed some interesting flashes post-play and passing flashes. Against the Blazers, Maluach attacked Hansen in the post and lost his balance for a moment.
Despite it appearing he was too out of control and would fall over, he calmly regained his balance to make a hook shot. The center showed he can not only score out of the post but pass to his teammates for good shots out of it.
In the fourth quarter against the Pelicans, Khaman passed out of the post, finding a teammate relocating to the right corner for a three-pointer. In the third quarter of his second game while serving as a handoff hub, he kept the ball high after seeing a poking defender. Then went along to pass it to a teammate for a catch-and-shoot three.
During that same quarter, Maluach hit a teammate cutting backdoor on a split cut for a layup. Against the Pistons, after trying to flow into a dribble handoff with a teammate, that said teammate ends up cutting around Khaman backdoor. Maluach goes on to make a good pass over his defender to the aforementioned teammate for an and-one layup.
Despite his plays out of the post and passing not being the most high-end scoring or playmaking reads. These flashes are still something to note.
Perhaps the most encouraging development Maluach displayed throughout his four summer league games was his three-point shooting. During his rookie campaign, he only shot 23.8% from three, took 21 attempts from three, equaling 0.5 attempts per game.
The former tenth overall pick not only raised his percentage significantly, but his volume as well. Maluach shot 20 total threes, only one less than he attempted over the course of 46 games.
In summer league we saw the former top ten pick shoot threes with more confidence than we’ve ever seen. Which makes these flashes of shooting from behind the arc even more tantalizing. In the third quarter alone against Portland he made three catch-and-shoot three. Stepping into each with confidence from the top of the key and the left wing.
When the Suns faced off against New Orleans, he converted a wing three and a pick-and-pop three, with both coming over decent contests. Against the Bucks, he knocked down another pick-and-pop three over a decent contest.
In the last game of his summer league campaign, he converted two catch-and-shoot threes both in the third quarter. The first make was over a slight contest, but the second one was over a good contest from the closing out defender.
Over his four games, Maluach walked away shooting five three-point attempts a game, converting on a 40% clip. If that number can hold even somewhat close to true, it changes the entire math of what kind of center he can become.
Coming into the league while Khaman was viewed as a highly touted raw prospect, it was a common belief that he would at least impact the game on a positive level defensively. But he was even better than many could imagine.
Maluach put on a defensive clinic in the summer league. Throughout his games, he showed his versatility to play multiple coverages in the pick and roll. Including having the athleticism and awareness to prevent two scoring opportunities in the same play.
Against the Bucks, after playing drop coverage in the pick and roll, he dropped back to the paint, then Fleming got beat at the point of attack; Maluach proceeded to turn and jump quickly to swat Milwaukee’s center floater attempt out of bounds.
Against the Pelicans, after a defensive breakdown, Maluach stunted at Jaron Pierre Jr., forcing the New Orleans guard to turn his floater into a lob. Maluach turned around immediately after stunting at Pierre Jr. and went on to block the Pelicans center from converting the alley-oop layup attempt.
Maluach was dominant on the glass, ending with a double-double in all four of his games. Peaking with as high as fifteen rebounds twice, with those games coming against New Orleans and Detroit.
Maluach had multiple games where he had two or more offensive rebounds. The big man had two offensive rebounds against Milwaukee. Then, versus the Pistons, he racked up six offensive rebounds.
There will be opportunities to make this breakout a reality, with Mark Williams, the Suns’ starting center, being injury-prone. Williams has only played sixty games or more once, with the first time happening just this past season.
Maluach could also prove just to flat out be better than Phoenix’s backup center Oso Ighodaro. Maluach is arguably already a better defender and has more offensive upside than the former second-round pick.
Maluach’s summer league showed us a player we rarely, if ever, saw during his rookie season. If even a portion of this translates to this upcoming season, he’s set up to have a breakout year in his sophomore campaign.
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