Tag: Tyty Washington Jr.

Report: Former Thunder TyTy Washington Jr. signs two-way deal with Bucks

The former Thunder guard has found a new home.

TyTy Washington Jr. joined his fourth team this offseason when he signed a two-way deal with the Milwaukee Bucks, per The Athletic’s Shams Charania. This comes 11 days after the Oklahoma City Thunder waived him.

The Thunder acquired Washington Jr. from the Atlanta Hawks in a multi-player trade.

Washington Jr. played for the Thunder late in the summer league after being a last-second addition to the roster. It was his only appearance for OKC.

The 21-year-old was drafted 29th in the first round of the 2022 NBA draft. He spent his rookie season with the Houston Rockets, with whom he averaged 4.7 points and 1.5 assists in 31 games.

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OKC Thunder waive TyTy Washington Jr.

TyTy Washington Jr.’s brief OKC tenure comes to an end.

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The Oklahoma City Thunder announced on Friday they had waived guard TyTy Washington Jr.

The Thunder acquired Washington Jr. in a multi-player trade in July with the Atlanta Hawks along with Usman Garuba, Rudy Gay and a 2026 second-round pick.

Washington Jr. played for the Thunder late in summer league after being a last-second addition to the roster, but it appears he didn’t show enough for the team to keep him. OKC enters training camp with a roster crunch.

The 21-year-old was drafted 29th in the first round of the 2022 NBA draft. He spent his rookie season with the Houston Rockets, with whom he averaged 4.7 points and 1.5 assists in 31 games.

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Player grades: Shorthanded Thunder suffer 105-89 summer league loss to Wizards

Ousmane Dieng highlighted the 16-point loss for the Thunder.

Camping at the top of the key, Ousmane Dieng splashed a catch-and-shoot 3 to highlight a robust third quarter.

The second-year forward headlined the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 105-89 blowout loss to the Washington Wizards on Friday. He finished with a 17-5-5 line. The Thunder played shorthanded as they sat out Chet Holmgren and Jaylin Williams in the penultimate summer league contest.

“I thought it’s a good lesson for us that you can layer on as much as you want to layer but it always comes down to the foundation,” Thunder summer league coach Kam Woods said on what they could learn from their loss. “If the foundation is not good, none of the other stuff really matters.”

After an impressive win over the Indiana Pacers, the Thunder elected to sit out two of their best summer league participants. Their absence allowed Dieng and others to vacuum up extra possessions. Despite a slow start this game, the 2022 lottery pick strengthened his strong summer league campaign with another solid outing.

Two-way candidate Jared Butler was also another standout for the Thunder. He scored a game-high 22 points on efficient 8-of-14 shooting.

“I just tried to take what the defense was giving me and make simple decisions,” Butler said on his performance.

As a collective though, the Thunder struggled to generate quality offense. OKC shot 33-of-80 (41.2%) from the field but went 14-of-36 (38.9%) from 3. The offensive woes happened within the perimeter, as OKC went just 19-of-44 (43.1%) on 2-pointers without Holmgren and Williams.

The Thunder couldn’t keep up with the Wizards — both on the scoreboard and on the court. An 18-2 fastbreak advantage for the Wizards helped them quickly build a lead as large as 17 points. Washington rapidly created a 28-20 lead following the first quarter. A 27-19 fourth-quarter scoring advantage helped the Wizards seal the result.

Overall, Washington’s offense scored in flurries. The Wizards shot an efficient 36-of-67 (53.7%) from the field and went a sizzling 12-of-21 (57.1%) from 3. The Wizards took 13 fewer shots than the Thunder, but a 21-of-27 (77.8%) day from the free-throw line marginalized the shot-quantity difference.

The Wizards were led by their two most recent lottery picks. 2023 No. 7 pick Bilal Coulibaly had 19 points, three assists, four rebounds and four blocks. After a forgettable rookie season, 2022 No. 10 pick Johnny Davis dominated with 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting and went 4-of-8 from 3.

The Thunder dropped to 2-2 in the Las Vegas summer league with the 16-point loss to the Wizards. OKC is scheduled to play one more game against an unknown opponent.

Let’s look at Thunder player grades.

OKC Thunder add TyTy Washington Jr. to summer league roster

TyTy Washington Jr. will get a chance to play a couple of games with his new team.

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The Oklahoma City Thunder made a late addition to their summer league roster on Friday: TyTy Washington Jr.

The Thunder are scheduled to play two more summer league games, including the Washington Wizards later Friday.

The Thunder officially acquired Washington Jr. in a multi-player trade with the Atlanta Hawks that also landed OKC Usman Garuba, Rudy Gay and a 2026 second-round pick.

With the addition, Washington Jr. will get a couple of summer league games under his belt with his new team. The 21-year-old was drafted No. 29 in the 2022 NBA draft. In 31 games last season with the Houston Rockets, he averaged 4.7 points on 36.3% shooting, 1.5 assists and 1.5 rebounds.

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Rockets leaning on Eric Gordon as both leader and important player

Eric Gordon continues to serve as a key veteran leader for the Rockets, but he carries significant value as a player, too. “Everyone has a good attitude, and the positivity is there,” Gordon says.

LAKE CHARLES, La. — As rookie TyTy Washington made his way up the left side of the court with the basketball, the rest of his teammates — including Jalen Green, Jabari Smith Jr., Eric Gordon, and Jae’Sean Tate — were waiting on Washington to make his move to get the offense started. Along with Green and Smith, he overloaded one side as Tate and Gordon made their way to the opposite.

Washington drove toward the baseline and kicked the ball to Tate. Without hesitation, he passed it to a wide-open Gordon, who hoisted the shot, without delay, over Josh Christopher’s outstretched arms.

The result went as Gordon, his teammates, and the Houston coaching staff all expected. Swoosh.

The 14-year NBA veteran then sprinted back down the court with a stoic look and a “business as usual” vibe.

Gordon, 33, knows his presence and leadership will be needed this year with the surplus of young talent the Rockets have.

“It is going to be a day-to-day, month-to-month, year-in, year-out process,” Gordon said about helping his youthful teammates navigate through the NBA season. “When you have a young team, guys are always trying to establish themselves in this league, and we have to establish ourselves as a team to grow. Everybody is still finding each other. Everyone has a good attitude, and the positivity is there.”

What his young teammates lack in experience, they make up for in talent. That’s something that stands out to Gordon, who played with four players last season under the age of 21 and now has three more teammates, Smith, Washington and Tari Eason, who are the same.

“We do have some really athletic guys,” said Gordon. “This is definitely one of the more athletic younger teams that I have seen or been around. Tari (Eason) adds that. TyTy (Washington) has sneaky athleticism, and Jabari (Smith) already has length and size. We just have to use it and use it collectively together, and we will be OK.”

Rockets head coach Stephen Silas loves what Gordon brings in leadership, but he also recognizes he is still an excellent player on the court. Last season, Gordon averaged 13.4 points (47.5% FG, 41.2% on 3-pointers) and 2.7 assists in 29.3 minutes per game.

“When he turns the corner, he’s got those big shoulders and he finishes and everybody’s like, ‘There’s Eric,’” Silas said at training camp. “If he’s defending the post, he’s like, ‘I don’t need any help.’’ Or on the perimeter, ‘I don’t need any help.’ But there are things that guys are like, ‘That’s just what he does.’”

Gordon will probably be limited in minutes when the Rockets open their preseason on Sunday versus San Antonio at Toyota Center. Silas has yet to tip his hand on whether Gordon or Tate will be the fifth starter surrounding Green, Porter, Smith and Alperen Sengun.

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As training camp begins, Rockets look to set tone, establish culture

Stephen Silas said Day 1 of #Rockets training camp was the best he’s seen during all his years in the NBA. What did it entail? “Setting a tone, establishing a culture, and a lot of teaching.”

LAKE CHARLES, La. – One look at the majority of players on the Legacy Center court at McNeese State University, and you might believe they were in their junior or senior years of college and preparing for the upcoming season of NCAA basketball.

Yet, these young men were not preparing for battle in the Southland Conference; they were preparing for their first preseason game on Sunday versus the San Antonio Spurs.

The Houston Rockets, who have 10 players on their roster who are 22 years old or younger, held their first day of training camp in Lake Charles. According to head coach Stephen Silas, it was a very successful day.

“I’ve been around a lot of Day 1s in my 20-whatever year career, and this is the best one I’ve ever seen,” Silas said in a team huddle.

Silas, who is entering his third year as the Rockets’ head coach, was also impressed with how his team responded to him and his staff regarding different aspects of practice.

“Setting a tone, establishing a culture, and a lot of teaching,” Silas said when asked about the first day of camp. “It was about having a great first day and having that lead to a great second day. It is going to be a day-by-day thing for us, and we finished Day 1.”

Rookie guard TyTy Washington was happy to get on the court with the players he will compete with this season after playing in the NBA summer league in Las Vegas just two months ago.

“It was good, I liked it,” Washington told reporters. “It is a dream come true for me. It is our first real practice. I am really excited to be with the whole team, grinding and going out there competing. After we broke practice down and finished our conditioning test, I was like ‘It is about that time.’”

Washington also emphasized how playing against rookies and veterans this summer helped him prepare for his first day of camp.

“It helped a whole bunch,” Washington said. “Summer league built my confidence going through the whole process and leading up to this point. I feel really comfortable where I am at and how I am doing.”

The Rockets will practice again on Wednesday in Lake Charles.

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In second Rockets season, Daishen Nix improving his NBA feel

Rockets coach Rick Higgins says of Daishen Nix: “His basketball IQ is very, very high. If you pay attention and watch him, he is putting a lot of guys in position to be successful.”

LAS VEGAS – With just under 13 seconds left in Saturday’s intense fourth quarter, the Houston Rockets held a slim 87-86 lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder. As second-year guard Daishen Nix took the ball on the opposite side of the court, he faced tremendous pressure.

Behind him in the seats were regular-season teammates Jalen Green, Kevin Porter Jr., Alperen Sengun, and Jae’Sean Tate, waiting to see if Nix would make the right decision to help Houston secure the win. Nix also had pressure staring him in his face with 7-foot-1 rookie Chet Holmgren obstructing his view, making it difficult to inbound the ball.

This situation may have rattled Nix, last season, in one of the 24 games he played with the Rockets. But this is a different Nix, who is trying to show Houston’s coaching staff — and in particular, head coach Stephen Silas — that he is ready to take his game to the next level.

As he surveyed the floor, he realized that Josh Christopher had his defender in front of him and a clear path to the basket. Nix floated the ball over the outstretched Holmgren and led Christopher to the basket, where he finished with a layup to boost Houston’s lead to three points. The Rockets went on to win that summer league game, 90-88.

“Daishen is a lot of things, and number one, he is a very good basketball player,” said Rick Higgins, head coach of Houston’s summer league squad in Las Vegas. “If he believes he’s a very good basketball player, he can show it. There was some frustration and adversity in the first half in the last game (Orlando). That second half and the fourth quarter, I think he showed the player that he is.”

Nix, who went undrafted in 2021, finished the game with 16 points and six assists against the Thunder on efficient 6-of-9 shooting (66.7%), including 3-of-5 on 3-pointers (60%). He was all over the court in his 26 minutes of action, clearly becoming more involved in the offense and appearing more relaxed and comfortable as a floor leader.

“I adjusted a lot, especially from game one,” Nix said postgame. “In game two I played more, and I got the feel for it. Game one, I was trying to get the feel for everybody on the team, like Jabari (Smith Jr.) and Tari (Eason). As soon as I got the feel for them and what they do, I put them in the right position, they did what they did, and we got the win.”

Getting a better feel for the NBA game is what the Rockets expect from Nix in the upcoming 2022-23 season. They would like to see the dynamic point guard who helped lead their G League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) Vipers, to the championship. In 18 games with RGV, he averaged 20.6 points and 7.6 assists per game on 47.9% shooting.

With Kevin Porter Jr. established as Houston’s starting point guard, Nix will compete with rookie TyTy Washington ⁠— who was drafted out of Kentucky at the No. 29 slot in the 2022 first round. The Rockets experimented on Saturday with having both in the game at the same time, which gave Houston an extra ball-handler and decision-maker.

It worked out well for Houston, as each player used the other’s strengths to help keep the Rockets within striking distance of the Thunder. Late in the game, with Houston trailing by one point, it was Nix who waved off Christopher to get the ball in the hands of Washington, who hit a seven-foot floater in the lane to give the Rockets the lead.

“His basketball IQ is very, very high,” Higgins said of Nix. “It’s decisions like those, if you pay attention to it and watch him, he is putting a lot of guys in position to be successful.”

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TyTy Washington enjoys Arizona reunion with Jalen Williams

Rockets guard TyTy Washington enjoyed Saturday’s reunion with fellow Arizona native Jalen Williams of the Thunder, and he really enjoyed shaking Williams on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.

LAS VEGAS – As time was ticking off the clock in the first half of Saturday’s Houston Rockets summer league game versus Oklahoma City, Rockets guard TyTy Washington received a cross-court pass from teammate Daishen Nix right above the 3-point line.

With Josh Christopher open in the corner, the Thunder defender had to quickly decide who he would guard, and he followed his instincts and closed out on the shooter. From there, Washington pump-faked a shot, took one hard dribble to the right, and hoisted up a 24-foot 3-point shot over the outstretched arm of a second defender. Washington’s shot hit nothing but net, giving his team a 45-40 halftime lead.

What made the shot so special wasn’t that Washington made a good basketball play. It was the fact that he had pump-faked his old high school nemesis, Jalen Williams, who was selected at No. 12 overall in the 2022 NBA draft by Oklahoma City. The two Arizona natives grew up playing against each other and are good friends off the court.

“It felt really good,” Washington said about his buzzer-beater over Willams. “When he was running at me, I looked at him, and once I pump-faked him and moved to the side, I heard him screaming, ‘That’s off.’ So, after I made it, I looked at him like, come on Jalen, you know I got this.”

Washington, who scored 9 points in 22 minutes, was a standout high school player at Ceasar Chavez and Arizona Compass Prep. Meanwhile, Williams shined at Gilbert Perry. The two have known each other for a very long time, but they hadn’t played against each other in a while.

“Me and Jalen started playing against each other when we were like babies, like eight or nine years old,” Washington said postgame. “From middle school to early high school. This is my first time playing against him since then. It’s been a long time, but just seeing us out there on the biggest stage out there competing was really cool.”

Williams echoed the same friendly sentiments towards Washington in his post-game press conference.

“It is kind of rare, especially in Arizona, to play against someone you grew up with,” said Williams, who finished with 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting (58.3%) in 28 minutes. He also had 5 rebounds and 2 steals. “I have known TyTy (Washington) since we were like six. So, it was a really cool experience and he played well, too, so that was dope.”

Arizona became a hot spot for NBA talent in this year’s draft. In all, six players from the state were drafted, including Washington, who was selected by Memphis at No. 29 and traded to the Rockets.

“I feel like Arizona is slept on, but this year we had six people who went to high school in Arizona get drafted,” said Washington, who put Houston in front for good with a floater in the final 30 seconds of Saturday’s win. “Arizona is not a bummy state. We got a few hoopers out there.”

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With Usman Garuba out, Aric Holman ready for opportunity with summer Rockets

With Usman Garuba out injured, Aric Holman wants to take advantage of an opportunity in Las Vegas. “I want to get a contract with somebody, hopefully it’s here in Houston,” @AricHolman says.

LAS VEGAS — One of the goals of summer league is to get rookies and other young players acclimated to playing in the NBA by learning the rules, game speed, and beyond. It is also a time for free agents to showcase their talents with hopes of being invited to a team’s training camp and eventually making a regular-season roster.

That last goal is precisely what 6-foot-9 forward Aric Holman, who played for San Antonio’s G League affiliate last season, wants to achieve when he gets opportunities to play over the next two weeks.

Holman is currently part of the Rockets’ summer league team, where he is playing alongside talents like second-year player Josh Christopher and rookies Jabari Smith Jr., Tari Eason, and TyTy Washington.

With forward Usman Garuba out with an ankle injury that is likely to cause him to miss the entire summer league, Holman is using this opportunity to display some of the talents he possesses to show the Rockets and the rest of the NBA that he is ready to compete for a roster spot.

“I want to get a contract with somebody, hopefully it’s here in Houston,” Holman said. “I just take it one day at a time. Just winning the day. Not thinking about game three, four, or five. Just winning that next game.”

Holman, who went undrafted in the 2019 NBA draft out of Mississippi State, was very productive in Thursday’s summer league opener versus Orlando. He checked into the game late in the third quarter and immediately made an impact with two huge blocks in under one minute. Holman finished with 8 points in 14 minutes (box score) and showed potential as a stretch big, making 2-of-4 from 3-point range (50.0%).

That type of energy and production off the bench impressed Rockets summer league head coach Rick Higgins.

“He had one look that went terrible in the first half, but he came out in the second half with nothing but confidence, attention to detail, and energy,” said coach Higgins. “It helped our group immensely.”

When it comes to potentially earning a contract — keep in mind, Houston is reportedly looking for another backup big this offseason — Holman believes he brings intangibles that could help the Rockets be successful as they progress through their rebuild. Among his comments:

I am a very high IQ guy, so I just bring that to the floor. I communicate and make people better around me, and then I just take what is given to me. I don’t reach out for the extras; I just take what is given to me and help my team win.

“This is a great organization — a great coaching staff, great players all around,” Holman concluded. “As everyone starts to buy in, this is going to be a great organization.”

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Young Rockets learning from experience of 2022 NBA summer league opener

“The pace of the game was way faster, and the court was bigger, so there is more spacing,” TyTy Washington says of his NBA summer league debut. Houston returns to action Saturday night.

LAS VEGAS — One day after losing their first Summer League game to the Orlando Magic, the Houston Rockets were back in the gym trying to fix some of the things that led to the 91-77 defeat.

Orlando shot 52% overall and 50% on 3-pointers in the first half, led by 13 points from Paolo Banchero, who was drafted No. 1 overall in the 2022 NBA draft. Houston looked lost in their sets on both sides of the ball, which stood out to summer league head coach Rick Higgins.

“The communication, which is interesting,” Higgins said Friday. “Because watching on film, you can almost — without being able to hear — you could feel the lack of communication.”

Unfamiliarity among a group of new teammates caused a lot of that miscommunication, since it was the first time most of the players on the Rockets had played with one another. Mix that in with a high amount of pregame adrenaline, and you have a team with no continuity.

“Obviously playing with new people you have to adapt,” second-year guard Josh Christopher said. “But that is what summer league is all about. Adapting and building chemistry with your new teammates.”

One of those teammates looking to build that chemistry through redemption is forward Jabari Smith Jr., who finished his highly anticipated matchup against Banchero with 10 points and 7 rebounds.

Smith put in a lot of work during practice on Friday, preparing himself for another big matchup Saturday versus No. 2 overall pick Chet Holmgren and Oklahoma City (schedule). After getting a feel for playing in an NBA game on Thursday, Higgins expects Smith to rebound nicely.

“He hasn’t played a five-on-five basketball game since college and had his first one on last night (Thursday),” Higgins said regarding Smith’s debut performance. “Getting his feet under him, getting his body underneath him, and getting his game alignment will be huge.”

Saturday’s game will also be another opportunity for rookies Tari Eason and TyTy Washington to get more acclimated to playing NBA minutes. Eason finished Thursday’s game with a double-double, while Washington showed glimpses of being able to run an NBA offense.

“It was real, live NBA action, so I was happy to be out there,” Washington said after practice. “The pace of the game was way faster, and the court was bigger, so there is more spacing. I was just being a better leader vocally and staying aggressive. Taken what the defense was giving me. Whether that was me taking a shot, getting to the rim, or finding a teammate, I stayed aggressive throughout the whole game.”

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