What we learned in Warriors' Summer League loss to Lakers

What we learned in Warriors' Summer League loss to Lakers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

LAS VEGAS – Victor Wembanyama’s underwhelming summer league debut sucked the air right out of the Thomas & Mack Center on the UNLV campus. The Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers then struggled for all four quarters to find their own energy Friday night.

The Warriors ran out of gas first, falling 103-96 to the Lakers. Golden State now is 1-2 overall in summer league and 0-1 in Las Vegas.

Gui Santos was the Warriors’ only real scoring threat in the loss. The 6-foot-8 forward scored a game-high 25 points, continuing his eye-opening stretch of games.

Lakers second-year pro Max Christie received MVP chants in the second quarter, and finished the night tallying 22 points.

Here are three takeaways from the Warriors’ loss.

Quinones Goes Cold

Lester Quinones put on a scoring display in Sacramento over two California Classic games, averaging 23.5 points on 56.3 percent shooting and 58.8 percent behind the 3-point line. That same stroke didn’t follow him to Sin City, at least not in the first of the Warriors’ Las Vegas slate.

Quinones missed his first five attempts and didn’t get on the scoreboard until there were a little under seven minutes left in the first half when he drained a floater. In Sacramento, the shooting guard splashed from deep and threw down a few nasty dunks. He’ll have other chances in Vegas to showcase that skill set, it just abandoned him for at least one night.

The G League’s Most Improved Player did end up totaling 15 points but on 5-of-15 shooting, and much of his scoring came in the Warriors’ fourth-quarter comeback attempt.

Still, Quinones wasn’t completely absent from the highlight reel, finding big man Reggie Perry for a sweet no-look dish in the third quarter.

Throughout his time in the G League last season, Quinones proved he can put up points in a hurry. His next opportunity to do so comes Sunday night against the New Orleans Pelicans.

The Good and Bad of Podz

Warriors coach Jacob Rubin made it a point to make Brandin Podziemski more of a scoring threat Wednesday night in the Warriors’ California Classic finale. The first-round pick responded by scoring 13 first-half points, and 17 overall. Like Quinones, though, Podziemski never really got going.

And yet, he does find ways to make an impact and stuff the stat sheet.

Podziemski only had nine points on 3-of-10 shooting. The game doesn’t end there. One game after having five steals, Podziemski came down with 11 rebounds against the Lakers. The guard led the West Coast Conference in rebounding last season, and it’s easy to see why. He’s extremely active and is never a spectator.

That on its own will help Podziemski get minutes as a rookie. Steve Kerr watched from the sidelines and has to be happy seeing that kind of effort. Kerr also will do without Podziemski’s five turnovers.

Two-Way Gui?

It’s hard to ignore the improvements of Santos, 21, in the last year. Talent was clear at the summer league showcase a year ago. But Santos also looked like a deer in headlights or a baby giraffe first learning to walk at times.

Behind added muscle, enhanced athleticism and a completely better understanding of the game, Santos looks like a developmental project worth paying attention to. His footwork is smooth around the basket, and he opened the game by making a corner three in rhythm. Santos shot 9 of 15 from the field, two nights after going 7 of 9.

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Could a two-way contract be in store?

Santos is giving the Warriors front office plenty to think about. Even if the majority of his time is spent in Santa Cruz again, having him on a two-way contract might be beneficial for both sides. The Warriors are building a veteran roster, and Santos learning from their experience would go a long way.

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