Branham shines in summer debut with Wembanyama on deck
SACRAMENTO — As a nip and tuck summer league game came down to the fourth quarter at Golden1 Arena on Wednesday, Spurs assistant coach Matt Neilsen decided on a twopronged approach to victory.
Step 1: Give the ball to Malaki Branham.
Step 2: Get out of the way. The plan paid off, again and again, as Branham led the summer Spurs to a 109-99 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in the teams’ California Classic finale.
“He’s a crafty player,” Neilsen said of the second-year guard from Ohio State. “It’s good to let him run around.”
Making his summer debut after sitting out Monday’s win over Charlotte, Branham pumped in 32 points on 12-of-24 shooting to power the Spurs to a 2-0 finish in Sacramento.
Seventeen of those points came in the game’s final 7:40, after the Lakers had carved a 10point deficit to two.
“I sat the first game, and I really wanted to be out there,” Branham said. “It felt good to get out there.”
After averaging 10.2 points as a rookie, the 20-year-old Branham was expected to be the star of the Spurs’ summer league squad — at least until No. 1 pick Victor Wembanyama joins the team for the Las Vegas portion of the schedule.
He was mildly disappointed to skip the opener against the Hornets. The club made the executive decision to keep Branham out for one game after he logged 1,550 minutes as a rookie.
“They just wanted to be safe,” Branham said.
As he watched in street clothes as the Spurs defeated the Hornets, Branham took some gentle ribbing from his teammates.
“Some of the guys were saying, ‘We don’t need you, we don’t need you,’ ” Branham said.
Unleashed Friday against the Lakers, Branham wasted little time making up for lost time.
He scored eight points in the first eight minutes to get the Spurs off to a solid start.
Branham’s longest-tenured teammate — fellow 2022 draftee Blake Wesley — was not surprised to see him start strong.
“You see it all the time,” Wesley said. “He did it all last year. Summer League, next year — he’s growing.”
For 30 summer league squads across the NBA, one overriding goal is to see growth from second-year players.
If they can dominate a game, all the better.
From that standpoint, Wednesday was a winner for the Summer Spurs.
Not only did Branham sizzle on his way to a 30-piece, the Spurs also got star turns from other up-and-comers.
Two days after posting a 30point outing of his own against Charlotte, Julian Champagnie flirted with another one by putting up 28 points against the Lakers. He made five 3-pointers for the second game in a row, finishing his tour of Sacramento by going 10-of-22 from the 3point stripe.
Not to be outdone, Wesley had 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists against the Lakers.
“Everybody contributed to the win,” Wesley said.
Branham saved his best breathtaking performance for when it mattered most.
The Spurs ran one play,
called “Two Chins,” for the bulk of the fourth quarter. At its simplest, the play called for Branham to have the ball in his hands and make plays. He made the right ones. The Lakers climbed to within 86-84 with under eight minutes to play. Branham followed with a pull-up jumper to extend the Spurs’ lead.
Next, he finished a drive that resulted in a goaltending call and a foul for a 3-point play. He followed his own miss with a rebound and a bank shot. He buried a 3-pointer.
Branham did not only thrive at shot-making.
Late in the game, Branham blew by his defender, drew help from the Lakers’ interior and then dished to Dominick Barlow for a dunk.
“He has that capability,” Neilsen said. “He’s an allaround basketball player. Some of that showed tonight.”
By the time Branham’s flurry was over, the Spurs were ahead by double digits again with game in hand.
“I made the right plays, made the right reads, made shots,” Branham said.
In doing so, Branham made a mockery of his teammates’ jokes about not needing him.
“It felt really great to have him come off the ball,” Wesley said. “It was good playing with him, and then with Victor, we’ll only get better.”
Ah, Victor. Wembanyama is on the way, set to make his Spurs debut Friday against Charlotte in Las Vegas.
In anticipation, the NBA announced a sellout of the nearly 19,000-seat Thomas & Mack Arena.
That amounts to 38,000 eyeballs sure to be glued on the Spurs’ prized 7-foot-3 rookie.
For one more night in Sacramento at least, the Spurs were under the radar and Branham was the star.
“He’s a good basketball player,” Neilsen said. “He’s one of those guys who is putting in the work right now. He’s had a good rookie season, and he’s having a good summer getting better.”