Former IU star Jalen Hood-Schifino quickly finding his place with Lakers Summer League team

LAS VEGAS — Jalen Hood-Schifino was just about to answer some questions from reporters when Trayce Jackson-Davis came around from behind him and gave him a quick jolt by wrapping his right arm around the front of his shoulders.

“We got a superstar right here,” Jackson-Davis said.

“Look who it is,” Hood-Schifino said. “Look who it is.”

The two anchors of Indiana’s 2022-23 season — which produced 23 wins including one in the NCAA tournament — were supposed to play against each other for the first time as pros Friday night. Obviously, it’s the NBA Summer League and therefore not a game that technically counts in the record books, but still, they were supposed to be out there wearing opposing jerseys with Jackson-Davis beginning his career with the Golden State Warriors and Hood-Schifino with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Jackson-Davis missed the game with a minor hamstring injury that cost him time in the California Classic, the other summer league the Warriors were involved in, so Hood-Schifino was there to represent IU on his own.

The Lakers’ No. 17 pick in the 2023 draft didn’t necessarily put up a superstar line. He scored just nine points on 3 of 11 shooting after scoring a combined 35 points in two games at the California Classic. However, the Big Ten Freshman of the Year always seemed to be in control of the Lakers’ offense and he ran it efficiently enough to get them a 103-96 win.

Summer League play can be sloppy with rosters of recently drafted rookies, free agents and G Leaguers teaming up with perhaps a handful of second-year players on teams that have perhaps a week to prepare before their first games. But Hood-Schifino was anything but sloppy, dishing out three assists against zero turnovers while also grabbing four steals, five rebounds and a blocked shot. He was steady, deliberate and unshakable with the ball. Though several were picked earlier because of their upside, he was considered one of the the most NBA-ready point guards in the draft, and he showed all the characteristics that led to that assessment.

And he found hot hands. Former Michigan State star Max Christie scored 22 points, knocking down 3 of 5 3-pointers and throwing down a spectacular dunk. Forward Cole Swider, who gave Indiana problems when he was at Syracuse, added 19 and the Lakers had four players score in double figures.

“I didn’t hit shots,” Hood-Schifino said, “but I was able to rebound, get players involved, defend. Max (Christie) had a big-time game. Cole (Swider), other guys stepped up It was just a go-with-the-flow type game. Lead guys, things like that.”

It says something about Hood-Schifino, though, that he already feels like he can lead. He already feels comfortable, for instance, with the speed of the game. It isn’t moving nearly as fast as it will when he’ll be on the same squad as LeBron James and Anthony Davis, but it’s still faster than college basketball and he’s adapted quickly.

“The main thing is now I’m kinda playing at my pace a little bit more,” Hood-Schifino said. “Playing a little more relaxed, and that comes with time. I’m always pretty even-keeled, comfortable, but it’s a new game for me, new adjustments. Once I got to play a little bit, get my feet under me out there, kind of take a deep breath, kind of relax a little bit, now I feel like I’m playing more at my pace.”

Feeling that control, and starting to find chemistry with his new teammates, helped the Lakers get their first win of the summer.

“I think we’re getting better every single game,” Hood-Schifino said. “Obviously, we haven’t been around each other that long, but just bonding off the court, practices, watching film together. I think today we showed that we could play together. We got better from the last two games.”

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Jalen Hood-Schifino at home in pros with Lakers in Summer League