Who is Kendrick Nunn?
Guard is nothing short of the Heat’s latest summer revelation
LAS VEGAS — Kendrick Nunn was just getting started as the Miami Heat were getting finished.
That’s what makes this summer roster spot all the more compelling.
Signed on the final day of the regular season, Nunn never got to wear a Heat uniform before he began his offseason workouts with the team, at a time when the rest of his teammates were clearing out lockers following a disappointing 2018-19 lottery run.
“It was a little weird,” the 23-year-old prospect said of asking for directions how to get in to AmericanAirlines Arena when the rest of the Heat players were moving out for the summer.
“But I was happy that I got that call. I’d been patient the entire season in the G League and it was an honor to get that call, even at the last minute.”
From that day forward, Nunn has been a revelation, to the point of not whether the Heat will commit to the $150,000 August 1 guarantee on his contract, but rather whether he will be a rotation player come training camp and then the regular season. Through four games of the Las Vegas summer league, Nunn is averaging 21 points on 55% shooting, 5.0 rebounds and 6.3 assists.
To some, Nunn has been a summer-league eye-opener, with his scoring, passing, rebounding and defense.
But the Heat knew better, which is why, on the very day that Dwyane Wade was saying goodbye to the NBA in Brooklyn, Nunn was saying hello to his new NBA home.
After drawing notice during last quest year’s for
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league, when he averaged 12.3 points and 5.6 rebounds for the Warriors, the Chicago native went on to average 19.2 points for the Warriors’ G League affiliate in Santa Cruz, Calif. All the while he had the Heat’s attention, averaging 25.7 points in three games against the Heat G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce.
Unlike during the Heat’s 6-1 run to this point through summer leagues in Sacramento and Las Vegas, Nunn spent last season mostly as a sixth man in Santa Cruz.
By choice.
“And that was one of the main things we focused on, and that’s why I came off the bench, is to get prepared for those moments,” he said of perhaps setting up as the Heat’s backup point guard or shooting guard, depending on the remainder of the team’s offseason machinations.
The perseverance to this stage has been impressive. He went undrafted in 2018, despite finishing second in the NCAA in scoring to Trae Young, while playing at Oakland University just outside of Detroit.
“He is a tough-nosed kid,” Heat summerleague coach Eric Glass said. “He can defend. He can score. He’s a scoring-first guard, but he’s learned how to facilitate and how to be a point guard, as well.
“In a stretch at Santa Cruz, where their starting point guard went down and he stepped into that role, he was able to learn, and that is going to be important for him, because he’s a little bit undersized.”
At 6-foot-3, Nunn, however, might right fit at the right time, Glass said.
“If you’re thinking about a two, the way the league is going, with [Fred] VanVleet and [Kyle] Lowry playing together in Toronto, he has that kind of skill set,” Glass said. “He can shoot it. He can penetrate. So he’s got a nice game to him.
“He’s a very aggressive player. But he plays at a just be the very calm, collected pace. He has a calming presence that we really like.”
And the type of determination that makes him hard not to notice.
“He’s been dogging the point guards all summer league,” Glass said. “He’s been doing a good job on the ball.”
All with the goal of making the end of this past season just the start for a Heat career that actually will include wearing the team’s jersey in a regular-season game.
“The grind, being the underdog,” he said, “that’s something that I embrace and I love, that challenge.”