It’s unusual for the St. John’s basketball program to have a major contingent of players at the NBA’s Summer League in Las Vegas, but that is also changing – like so many other things – since Rick Pitino arrived in Queens.
Despite not having a player selected in the 2025 NBA Draft last month, the Johnnies saw its four draft-eligible players ink professional deals for the summer as the league descends on the desert for the next two weeks.
The most notable former Red Storm player that landed a two-way contract was Big East Player of the Year RJ Luis with the Utah Jazz. Luis had hopes of being picked in the second round of the draft but was able to pick his landing spot once he went undrafted.
However, Luis’ debut this summer has been halted by knee soreness that kept him out of both games the Jazz played in the Utah Summer League. The hope is that he can get on the court in Las Vegas beginning on Friday night.
Kadary Richmond will play with the Washington Wizards while Aaron Scott inked a deal with the Boston Celtics and Deivon Smith signed with the Atlanta Hawks. All three players will wait until Friday to take the court.
Daniss Jenkins, who was named to the NBA G-League All-Rookie Team this season with the Motor City Cruise, is back on the Summer League roster with the Detroit Pistons as he tries to prove that he belongs on an NBA roster after appearing in just seven games with the big league club this season.
Even Chris Ledlum, who played on Pitino’s inaugural team in Queens, landed a Summer League deal with the Houston Rockets after a successful season playing in France. This will be Ledlum’s first experience on an NBA roster after not playing in the event last summer.
Houston also begins its slate of games on Friday night.
David Jones, who played one season with St. John’s under Mike Anderson, has already made an impressive statement in Summer League with performances of 25 points in back-to-back games with the San Antonio Spurs in the California Classic.
It remains to be seen how many minutes the former St. John’s players will receive at Summer League but it’s certainly a step in the right direction for the program to have much larger presence in Las Vegas.