The San Antonio Spurs announced the roster for the upcoming Utah Jazz Summer League, which will start on Monday. As expected, draft selections Derrick White and Jaron Blossomgame are included, along with Spurs notables Dejounte Murray, Bryn Forbes and Davis Bertans.
A host of players who played with the Austin Spurs last season is also on the roster, including guard Jeff Ledbetter, who had a Jonathon Simmons-esque journey to the D-League through local tryout, Cady Lalanne and Livio Jean-Charles, who are both previous Spurs draft selections. Cory Jefferson, who had a standout season before leaving for the Alaska Aces, rounds out the Austin selection.
Oliver Hanlan, a 6-4 guard who the Spurs acquired from Utah in the trade for Boris Diaw will be in the backcourt along with James Robinson, who played college ball for Pittsburgh before playing professionally overseas last season.
In the frontcourt, joining Bertans, Blossomgame, Lalanne and Jefferson will be Cleanthony Early, a two-year NBA veteran who was drafted by the New York Knicks and seen as a potential Spurs draft pick before they selected Kyle Anderson. Early has spent some time in the newly-renamed G-League, where he averaged 10 points, 4.2 rebounds and one block in limited minutes with the Santa Cruz Warriors.
Ben Bentil is a 6-9 power forward who was drafted in the second round of the 2016 NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics. He was waived and then picked up by the Pacers before the season started, but was quickly assigned to Fort Wayne, where he played a single game before deciding to leave to play in China. He is a mobile forward who is comfortable shooting from midrange, very comparable to Jefferson, so he’ll probably be subbed in and used interchangeably with Jefferson.
The Spurs round out the roster with 6-11 forward/center Shayne Whittington, who also spent time with Indiana and Fort Wayne. He played most recently with Spain’s Liga ACB, where he averaged 11.7 points and 5.5 rebounds in about 23 minutes per game.
Will Hardy will coach the Utah summer league team, and as previously reported, Manu Ginobili’s brother, Sepo, is on the coaching staff.
The Spurs will begin play on Monday against Utah. They’ll play Boston on Wednesday and Philadelphia on Thursday. All games will be available on NBA TV.
For more on the Austin Spurs players joining the Summer League roster, be sure to read Project Spurs Network Site Spurs on Sixth. Clicking on the links attached to their names above will lead you to a page of archives focused specifically on those players.
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