The summer time is always the worst season of the year for organized sports fans (especially for those of us who love the traditional football and basketball) as we have few to no events to attend or watch. Of course there are the incredible tennis matches and the slightly less exciting baseball games to view, but we’re at a loss without a widespread availability of other athletic highlights. Thankfully, we recently had the 2023 NBA Summer League that featured Baylor’s very own former G Keyonte George playing for the Utah Jazz! George missed some time in the NBA Summer League due to injury, but in the time he spent playing against other talented athletes, he earned one of five spots on the NBA 2K24 Summer League First-Team leading the league in points per game with 21.7 points and 6.3 assists per game and shooting over 50% of field goals and 44% of 3s.
In the 2023 NBA Draft, George was picked in the first round as 16th overall by the Jazz. In his one season in the green and gold, George averaged 15.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 29 minutes per game. Coming out of high school, George was ranked No. 3 in the country—making him Baylor’s highest ranked recruit in program history. George was named Preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year and was picked as an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection. George was Baylor’s second consecutive Preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year, making the Bears “just the third program in Big 12 history to have back-to-back winners,” Hill wrote. The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) All-District team was chosen by NCAA Division I NABC coaches and George was showered with honors from the group. George followed his preseason accolade by being named Big 12 Freshman of the Year—the Bears’ first winner since Quincy Miller in 2012—and he earned spots on the Second Team, All-Freshman Team and All-Newcomer Team. Papa Jerry Hill stated that “George holds the program record for most 20-point games by a freshman (12)!” His play easily made him an addition to the NABC All-District Second Team.
