Two former Tennessee players are set to compete with the Atlanta Hawks NBA Summer League team this July.
According to Brad Rowland on Twitter, former Tennessee basketball players Yves Pons and Uros Plavsic are on the Hawks’ roster.
The 2023 NBA Summer League will take place in early to mid-July in Salt Lake City, Sacramento, and Las Vegas.
Pons and Plavsic are the only two players from the SEC on the Hawks’ summer league team. Other notable names include Michigan’s Kobe Bufkin, Duke’s AJ Griffin, Penn State’s Seth Lundy, and UCLA’s David Singleton.
After a four-year career on Rocky Top from 2017 to 2021, Yves Pons originally began his NBA career as an undrafted free agent with the Memphis Grizzlies summer league team. Pons turned the summer league performance into a two-way contract with Memphis and split time between the Grizzlies and their G League affiliate, the Memphis Hustle.
Pons then eventually joined the Brooklyn Nets summer league team in July 2022. The former Tennessee player then signed a two-year contract with ASVEL Basket in France at the end of the month.
While playing with ASVEL Basket, Pons finished the 2022-2023 Euroleague season averaging 3.7 points and 1.3 rebounds per game over the span of 30 games. Pons finished the 2022-2023 French season averaging 5.7 points and 2.5 rebounds per game.
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Uros Plavsic, on the other hand, is entering his first year of basketball following his four-year career (2019-2023) on Rocky Top.
Plavsic took a step forward after his first two years at Tennessee where he averaged 2.6 points/0.9 rebounds and 1.1 points/1.1 rebounds, respectively. In his final two years with Tennessee basketball, Plavsic raised those averages to 4.2 PPG/4.0 RPG and 4.9 PPG/3.4 RPG, respectively. The native of Cacak, Serbia played in 32 games during his first two years and 69 games over his final two years.
While Plavsic was still finding and establishing his game during his final season at Tennessee, the Hawks are clearly testing the waters and seeing what a 7-foot-1 player with his experience can bring to the table. Plavsic’s best scoring game at Tennessee came during his senior season when he scored 19 points on 9-of-11 shooting in a loss against Kentucky at home this past January.
Here’s a look at the Atlanta Hawks 2023 NBA Summer League schedule this July:
- 7/7 – Sacramento vs Atlanta – 10:30 p.m. ET, NBA TV
- 7/9 – Atlanta vs Denver – 9:30 p.m. ET, NBA TV
- 7/12 – Minnesota vs Atlanta – 4:00 p.m. ET, ESPN2
- 7/13 – Philadelphia vs Atlanta – 3:30 p.m. ET, NBA TV
Each team will play four games during the NBA Summer League before the top four are selected for a mini-tournament in the middle of the month. The semifinals will take place on July 16 with the championship game happening on July 17.
The 26 teams that do not qualify for the postseason tournament will play one final closing game on either July 15 or July 16 from Las Vegas.
