Summer League Notes: Heat, Slawson, Celtics, Clifford

The Heat are generally considered one of the best teams at unearthing and developing young talent. With a suddenly very expensive roster, the need to find hidden gems has become more important than ever. Luckily, they came away quite impressed with their second-round pick from the 2026 draft, Ryan Conwell, according to Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald.

Conwell played in four total Summer League games between the California Classic and Las Vegas and showed his unwavering confidence as a shooter, attempting 36 threes in that time, though he only hit 11 of them. It wasn’t just his shooting that impressed Summer League coach Wayne Ellington, though.

“Defensively, he competes his butt off,” Ellington said. “And then, obviously, offensively he’s a force and he makes tough shots. He makes plays for others. He has a very strong offensive game and it’s only going to continue to grow.”

Trevor Keels and Jahmir Young, two unrestricted free agent guards, both had strong performances and remain eligible for two-way contracts, while Vladislav Goldin and Tre Donaldson were able to secure two-way deals this offseason.

Meanwhile, undrafted wing Tre White was one of the standouts on Miami’s roster, averaging 17.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.8 steals in Las Vegas while hitting 40% of his threes. Chiang notes that he could be a candidate for a two-way or Exhibit 10 contract.

“He’s got all the intangibles,” Ellington said of White. “He’s got size. He’s got the shooting ability. He’s got the IQ. So, he’s a guy that is going to continue to get better. He showed some flashes as well during the summer league, and I look forward to seeing what he can do in the future.”

We have more from around Summer League:

• Two-way restricted free agent Jalen Slawson had an eventful Summer League for the Pacers, leading the team in both points (20.8) and blocks (3.2) per game, despite hitting just 29.0% of his threes. His penultimate game provided the full Slawson experience, Dustin Dopirak writes for the Indianapolis Star, with big mistakes and even bigger recoveries. In his final game, he finished with 22 points and four blocks and continued to show the outline of an NBA rotation wing, according to Akeem Glaspie of the Star. The highs he shows will make it hard for the Pacers to part with him, despite some glaring weaknesses as well.
• The Celtics came into the summer festivities with four featured players: Hugo Gonzalez, Chris Cenac Jr., Dillon Mitchell, and Amari Williams. The former three clearly improved their stock, while Williams’ stayed relatively stable, Souichi Terada writes for MassLive. Meanwhile, John Tonje, who spent most of last season on a two-way contract, played well enough to at least be in the conversation for a coveted two-way spot for next year.
• Nique Clifford didn’t have eye-popping stats for the Kings this summer, but he worked on improving as a leader for the less experienced players on the roster, he said to Sean Cunningham of KCRA News (Twitter video link). “I would say just more assertiveness, being aggressive, not questioning plays,” he said of what the Kings were looking for from him this year as compared to last year. “If I see something, go make the play… [last year] you could mess up a little more, this year being a little sharper.” He also talked about the need to be more aggressive defensively rather than being on his heels and letting opponents attack.