By R.L. Bynum
There will be plenty of Tar Heels to watch during the NBA Summer League, from lottery pick Caleb Wilson, to players coming of their rookie NBA seasons, to a three-year pro veteran in Pete Nance.
The paths look different for every former Carolina player, but the goal is the same for all of them: prove they belong.
RJ Davis, San Antonio Spurs
Davis is playing for the Spurs after one season with the Los Angeles Lakers’ G League team but not getting a Summer League invitation from them.
Many expected Davis to suit up for the Lakers again this summer after he earned All-NBA G League Rookie Team honors, but Los Angeles left him off its roster in favor of a younger group of prospects.
Davis is joining a Spurs organization coming off its NBA Finals loss to the New York Knicks, lining up alongside 2026 draft picks Carter Bryant, Jayden Quaintance and Tarris Reed.
Davis appeared in 36 regular-season games (31 starts) for the South Bay Lakers last season, averaging 18.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 4.9 assists in 29.2 minutes while shooting 45.9% on 3-pointers. He also played in 13 Tip-Off Tournament games (10 starts), putting up 18.8 points, 3.9 rebounds and 4.8 assists in 30.6 minutes, performances that earned him a spot in the G League Next Up Game during NBA All-Star Weekend.
Height remains the question mark NBA evaluators keep coming back to, but scoring at all three levels, setting up teammates and rebounding at a high rate give him a shot at making an NBA roster.
Nance and Cormac Ryan, Milwaukee Bucks
Nance no longer needs Summer League to save his career, but he is using it anyway after three professional seasons.
The 26-year-old forward converted his two-way contract into a multiyear standard deal with Milwaukee on March 23, closing out a 2025–26 season in which he appeared in 47 total games (six starts), averaging 5.4 points, 2.7 rebounds and one assist.
Nance made his case for the conversion late in the year, contributing 13 points, seven rebounds and two blocks against Cleveland while filling in for an injured Giannis Antetokounmpo. He heads to Las Vegas as a known commodity for a Bucks team that went 1–4 at Summer League a year ago with Nance on the team.
Cormac Ryan returns to Milwaukee’s roster on a two-way contract, giving the Bucks a pair of familiar faces from last season’s group as they build around lottery pick Brayden Burries and second-year forward Bogoljub Marković..
Drake Powell, Brooklyn Nets
Powell missed the Summer League before his rookie season because of a left knee injury, so will be making his debut.
The Nets wing is coming off an uneven rookie season and used his Tuesday media availability to lay out what he’s been working on since the year ended.
“It’s been good. I’m just spending time in the gym, the weight room, trying to get better each and every day,” Powell said following a Summer League practice.
He pointed specifically to strength training as his priority this offseason.
“The main thing was the weight room, trying to build some muscle, get stronger and add to my athleticism, just being able to move well on the court,” Powell said.
Brooklyn drafted three players in June and returns four members of its 2025 class, Powell among them, giving the Nets one of the more experienced Summer League rosters in the league.
With veterans Michael Porter Jr. and Julius Randle now part of the Brooklyn mix, Powell will need to show real growth on both ends of the floor to lock down a rotation spot.
Seth Trimble, Washington Wizards
Trimble went undrafted, but he didn’t wait long to find a home, signing with Washington as an undrafted free agent days after the draft wrapped. Trimble closed out a four-year career at Carolina averaging 14.0 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.3 steals in 32½ minutes per game as a senior, earning All-ACC Honorable Mention honors and shooting 47.8% from the field.
He became known as much for his defense and leadership as for his shot-making, and his athletic testing backed that up at last month’s G League Draft Combine, where he posted a combine-best 43.5-inch max vertical leap and finished second overall in the shuttle run.
Washington is rebuilding around No. 1 overall pick AJ Dybantsa, which should mean plenty of open minutes for Trimble to make an impression this summer, with his defensive versatility giving him the clearest path to a two-way deal or an Exhibit 10 opportunity.
Henri Veesaar, Atlanta Hawks
Veesaar’s draft night didn’t go the way he expected. Once projected as a late first-round pick, the 6–11 center slipped all the way to No. 52, where Atlanta traded up from No. 57 to grab him in a deal with the Los Angeles Clippers.
Veesaar averaged a career-best 17.0 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.2 blocked shots on 60.8% shooting from the field and 42.6% on 3-pointers last season at UNC, numbers that ranked eighth in the ACC in scoring and fourth in rebounding. He earned All-ACC Second Team honors after transferring from Arizona, where he redshirted a season because of an elbow injury.
The slide clearly stung, but Veesaar said the people around him have kept him grounded through it.
“I feel like for me it’s just the people around me,” Veesaar said. “I know they have my back, and diving into basketball, enjoying the process of getting better.”
As a second-round pick on a Hawks Summer League roster that also includes lottery selections Kingston Flemings and Zuby Ejiofor, Veesaar’s team should be competitive.
Wilson, Chicago Bulls
No one will be watched more in the Summer League, however many games he plays, than Wilson.
He’ll be motivated after he was picked fourth behind three players he outplayed during his only season at UNC: Washington’s Dybantsa, Utah’s Darryn Peterson and Memphis’ Cameron Boozer.
“I played all of them. What happened when I played them is what happened, and it doesn’t really matter,” Wilson said at his introductory news conference. “I don’t really care about the media rankings. I’m a competitor. I get to play them in Summer League too. So whatever needs to be done to prove that I’m on the same level or that I’m better, I’ll do it.”
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Tar Heels’ Summer League schedule
Friday in San Francisco
—Spurs vs. Heat, 4:30 p.m. (ESPN) — Davis
Saturday
—Bucks vs. Warriors (Blue), 3 p.m. (ESPN) in San Francisco — Nance and Ryan
— Hawks vs. Jazz, 5 p.m. (ESPNU) in Salt Lake City — Veesaar
— Nets vs. Kings, 5 p.m. (ESPN) in San Francisco— Powell
Sunday
—Bucks vs. Nets, 3 p.m. (ESPN+) in San Francisco — Nance and Ryan vs. Powell
— Spurs vs. Warriors (Gold), 7 p.m. (ESPN+) — Davis
Monday
—Hawks vs. Thunder, 7 p.m. (ESPN) in Salt Lake City — Veesaar
— Spurs vs. Lakers, 7:30 p.m. (ESPNU) in San Francisco — Davis
— Nets vs. Warriors (Gold), 8 p.m. (ESPN+) in San Francisco — Powell
— Bucks vs. Kings, 10 p.m. (ESPNU) in San Francisco — Nance and Ryan
Tuesday
—Hawks vs. Grizzlies, 7 p.m. (ESPNU) in Salt Lake City — Veesaar
All below games are in Las Vegas
Thursday
—Spurs vs. Hawks, 4:30 p.m. (ESPN2) — Davis vs. Veesaar
— Wizards vs. Jazz, 9 p.m. (ESPN) — Trimble
Friday, July 10
— Bucks vs. Heat, 4 p.m. (Prime Video) — Nance, Ryan
— Nets vs. Knicks, 6 p.m. (Prime Video) —Powell
— Bulls vs. Grizzlies, 8 p.m. (Prime Video) — Wilson
Saturday, July 11
—Spurs vs. Knicks, 6 p.m. (ESPN) — Davis
— Nets vs. Hawks, 8 p.m. (ESPN) — Powell vs. Veesaar
Sunday, July 12
—Wizards vs. Kings, 8 p.m. (Prime Video) — Trimble
— Spurs vs. Bucks, 9 p.m. (ESPN) —Davis vs. Nance, Ryan
Monday, July 13
—Hawks vs. Celtics, 6 p.m. (TV TBD) — Veesaar
— Bulls vs. Jazz, 9 p.m. (TV TBD) — Wilson
— Bucks vs. Suns, 10 p.m. (Prime Video) — Nance, Ryan
Tuesday, July 14
—Nets vs. Kings, 6 p.m. (Prime Video) — Powell
— Wizards vs. Bulls, 8 p.m. (Prime Video) — Trimble vs. Wilson
Wednesday, July 15
—Bucks vs. Hornets, 7:30 p.m. (Prime Video) — Nance, Ryan
— Spurs vs. Jazz, 9:30 p.m. (Prime Video) — Davis
— Wizards vs. Clippers, 10:30 p.m. (TV TBD) — Trimble
Thursday, July 16
—Nets vs. Rockets, 4:30 p.m. (ESPNU) — Powell
— Bulls vs. Lakers, 6 p.m. (Prime Video) — Wilson
— Hawks vs. Grizzlies, 8 p.m. (Prime Video) — Veesaar
The Las Vegas schedule reflects each team’s first four Summer League games there, which count toward tournament seeding. The top four teams advance to semifinals July 18, with the championship game July 19. TV assignments for several later-round games were still to be determined as of this writing.
