Six former Cougars wrap up NBA Summer League competition – The Cougar

Houston men’s basketball was well-represented at the NBA’s various Summer Leagues, with six former Cougars participating in the competitions. 

Four of those alumni, guards L.J. Cryer, Mylik Wilson, and forwards J’Wan Roberts and Ja’Vier Francis, were members of Houston’s 2024-25 national title runner-up team.

Guards Jamal Shead and Nate Hinton also played, participating in their second and fifth Summer Leagues, respectively. 

Jamal Shead

Shead was drafted 45th overall by the Sacramento Kings in 2024 and was immediately traded to the Toronto Raptors as part of a multi-player deal.

Coming off his first NBA season, Shead averaged 7.1 points and 4.2 rebounds in 19.6 minutes per game.

Despite only starting 11 times in his rookie campaign, he started all five of his Las Vegas Summer League contests, in which the Raptors went 4-1, ultimately losing to the Sacramento Kings in the semifinals.

In his first four games, he scored in double-figures twice, averaging 10.8 points and 5.3 assists as the Raptors’ floor general. 

Shead’s strongest performance was in his final game, where he scored a team-high 24 points and dished out 12 assists, while shooting 9-of-16 from the floor. 

The 2024 Naismith Defensive Player of the Year also continued to disrupt opposing teams, averaging 1.6 steals per game. 

Though he shot just 23.8 percent from behind the 3-point line, Shead’s athleticism and ability to finish inside the rim, combined with his facilitating, should make him a key fixture for the Raptors heading into his second year.

L.J. Cryer

Cryer, one of the top shooters remaining among undrafted free agents, signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Golden State Warriors following the 2025 NBA draft.

It didn’t take long for Cryer to display the shotmaking ability that made him Houston’s leading scorer from 2023-25, and the possible fit with an organization predicated on perimeter shooting. 

In his two California Classic appearances, he averaged 13.5 points and made seven of 10 3-pointers. 

Cryer led all Warriors scorers in their second game, fueled by a personal 8-0 run in the second quarter, during which he drained a three-pointer from the top of the key and another from the right wing. 

The first-team All-Big 12 member only participated in two of Golden State’s five Las Vegas games, averaging just five points per game, and his efficiency was drastically worse than it was in Salt Lake City. 

Cryer’s Exhibit 10 contract runs through training camp, where he will compete for a two-way contract or a roster spot.

Mylik Wilson

Wilson was the last of the four 2024-25 Houston Cougars to land a Summer League roster spot this July.

The Rayville, La. native broke Summer League mini-camp with the Houston Rockets, and after a quiet first two games in Las Vegas, began to look like the tenacious Wilson who Houston had become familiar with.

In his final three games, Wilson averaged a staggering 3.6 steals per game, including two steal-and-slams against the Portland Trailblazers and Detroit Pistons.

Wilson, who has gained a flair for pivotal 3-point shots, buried one at the buzzer while fading away to end the first half against the Atlanta Hawks.

Yet, his most signature moment may have been a block against the Blazers’ 7-foot-1 center Yang Hansen, who eurostepped to the basket before a leaping Wilson emphatically rejected him. 

He stuffed the box score in his five games, averaging 4.4 rebounds, 2.6 steals and assists while swatting 0.8 shots per game.

Nate Hinton 

After going undrafted in 2020, Hinton quickly found a home with the Dallas Mavericks, signing a two-way contract and appearing in 21 games as a reserve during the 2020-21 season.

Now on his fourth Summer League team in five years, Hinton played in both the Salt Lake City and Las Vegas Summer leagues for the Memphis Grizzlies, coming off the bench in all but one of his seven games. 

Playing the small forward position for the Grizzlies, Hinton averaged 5.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 0.7 steals per game.

The former Cougar struggled to find a rhythm offensively in his first five performances, shooting 5-for-26 from the floor and 3-for-14 from behind the 3-point line. 

However, he closed out his Summer League with a 15-point, 6 rebound performance while shooting 5-of-6 from the field in a 105-92 win over the Los Angeles Clippers.

Ja’Vier Francis, J’Wan Roberts

Francis found himself on the Golden State Warriors’ California Classic and Summer League rosters alongside Cryer.

Despite only playing in two games, Francis capitalized on his minutes, scoring 10 points, seven rebounds and recording two blocks against the Warriors, and 14 points, seven rebounds and two blocks against the Cleveland Cavaliers. 

Shortly after Roberts went undrafted in June, he landed a deal with the Utah Jazz by way of a Summer League invite. 

However, Roberts found himself on a young Jazz team with a prioritization on developing its young core, limiting him to 9:53 minutes across two Summer League games. 

Roberts, Francis, Wilson and Hinton are all currently free agents and can sign with any team for training camp this fall.

Following the Summer League’s culmination, Roberts and Wilson joined Houston’s No. 1-seeded ‘Forever Coogs’ The Basketball Tournament team, where they eventually lost to the No. 2 Aftershocks on a buzzer-beating 3-point shot in the round of 16.

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