Keyonte George puts on a 33-point show in Vegas, making Jerry West and Reggie Jackson fast fans
LAS VEGAS — Keyonte George’s lock screen on his phone is part of a graphic he saw during the pre-draft process. The graphic listed George’s weaknesses as a prospect — his lack of athleticism, his 3-point consistency, his shot selection and his assist/turnover ratio.
He keeps the image on his phone so that he has to see it every day and he’s reminded of the things that he needs to do better, the things that he build on to prove the doubters wrong.
This is Keyonte George’s Lock Screen on his phone, for motivation purposes pic.twitter.com/3NIQZAFiGX
— Sarah Todd (@NBASarah) July 9, 2023
“I wake up every morning with this on my phone,” George said. “Each time I’m going into a game or I’m going into workout, that’s my main focus, each and every day, each and every game. Let’s take care of all this — take good shots, even if they’re not falling, just make sure we take great shots, play with the basketball … and that’s what I feel like I did tonight.”
He did that and more on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
From sharing a moment with The Logo himself and hearing an NBA champion shout out praise, to scoring 33 points in his Las Vegas Summer League debut, George couldn’t stop smiling.
The night started out well from a playing perspective, George dished out seven assists in the first half of the Jazz’s 105-99 win over the Los Angeles Clippers and had just one turnover during that stretch. Assist-to-turnover ratio — check.
Related
He showed off his athleticism with a high-flying dunk. Check. Though his shots weren’t falling like he’d want them in the first half, he was taking great shots. Then, when the Clippers adjusted in the second half, he started to shoot more and it seemed like he couldn’t miss. Check, check, check.
In the third quarter, while guarding the Clippers player who was inbounding the ball, George nodded his head, counting the seconds that the inbounder was holding onto the ball, unable to find a person to pass to.
“Oooooo ref,” George said with a smirk, just before the official blew his whistle, issuing a five-second violation to the Clippers for not inbounding the ball in time.
George turned and smiled at the people who were sitting courtside on the baseline, and one of them just happened to be Hall of Famer Jerry West, who laughed before calling out to George.
“You’re supposed to be a serious player,” West quipped between laughs. “Stop smiling.”
Although just 19 years old, George knows who West is and was shocked to be interacting with such a basketball legend.
“I had a smile on my face and he said what he said and I was like, oh, man,” George said. “I really didn’t expect him to say something to me during the game, but a legend like that…not a lot of people get to have that type of interaction with a guy like that. So yeah, that was cool.”
Just moments after recalling the moment he shared with West, Denver Nuggets guard Reggie Jackson walked by during George’s post-game interview session with reporters and called out above the scrum.
“That boy is nice!” Jackson exclaimed. “He’s nice!”
George shook his head, smiling once again.
“Man, I used to watch him growing up,” he said.
Jackson, though still an NBA player himself, was one of the fans that stuck around to watch the final Summer League game of the night at the Thomas & Mack Center at UNLV. And those that chose to stay saw quite a show.
George finished with 33 points, 10 assists, two rebounds, a steal, a block and just two turnovers. Evan Bradds, the Jazz assistant who is the head coach of the summer squad, said he notices George getting better with every single quarter he plays, a sentiment shared by George’s teammates.
“Keyonte’s confidence is through the roof which is really cool to see,” Jazz two-way player Micah Potter said. “And just the way that he picks up on things very quickly is really cool too. As a young guy that’s one of the biggest things…He’s getting more and more comfortable and it’s more and more evident that he’s gonna be a good playmaker for us in the future. It’s been a lot of fun to see.”
