{"id":48342,"date":"2025-07-08T09:37:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T09:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/48342\/"},"modified":"2025-07-08T09:37:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T09:37:09","slug":"nets-draft-pick-drake-powell-not-playing-in-summer-league-due-to-knee-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/48342\/","title":{"rendered":"Nets draft pick Drake Powell not playing in summer league due to knee injury"},"content":{"rendered":"

Drake Powell posted an impressive 43-inch vertical leap at the NBA scouting combine before the Nets used the No. 22 pick in the draft on the shooting guard from North Carolina following a trade with Atlanta.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Perhaps even more impressive? <\/p>\n

He made that jump while dealing with a troublesome left knee.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Powell told The Post that he tweaked his knee during the lead-up to the draft, and the Nets say the injury \u2014 which they described as tendinopathy \u2014 will preclude him from playing alongside the Nets\u2019 other four first-round picks during summer league action beginning later this week in Las Vegas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Nets and the 19-year-old Powell stressed he\u2019s being held out as a precaution, and the rookie added he\u2019d be playing if these were regular-season games.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely. It\u2019s extremely disappointing not to play [in summer league] because coming in with these guys, I want to compete with them,\u201d Powell said Monday at an appearance with the other Nets rookies at a camp for kids in Sunset Park in Brooklyn. \u201cSo yeah it\u2019s definitely frustrating, but I understand it. I\u2019d say it\u2019s more of a precaution type thing right now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"DrakeDrake Powell won\u2019t play in Summer League for the Nets. AP<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-5 Powell averaged 7.4 points and 25.6 minutes per game while shooting 37.9 percent from 3-point range in 37 games (24 starts) as a freshman for the Tar Heels last season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He will accompany the team to Las Vegas even though he will be unable to suit up for the games.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely, just to be there for breaking down film and seeing what we run offensively and defensively and also to get to know my teammates and coaches,\u201d Powell said, adding he was \u201cnot sure\u201d how much higher he would have jumped at the combine if not for his knee issue. \u201cI feel like my explosiveness is what I can bring to the team, both offensively and defensively.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy defense is very important and I think it\u2019s one of the staples of my game. I try to be myself, but I try to take bits and pieces from other people\u2019s games, too, like Devin Booker and Mikal Bridges, guys like that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"DrakeDrake Powell (R.) speaks at his introductory Nets press conference on July 1, 2025. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n

Powell will get to show the Nets that athleticism soon enough on the court, just not this month in Vegas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Nets made the trade for Powell\u2019s rights official on Monday, also taking on Terance Mann\u2019s contract from the Hawks in a three-team swap with the Celtics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Drake Powell posted an impressive 43-inch vertical leap at the NBA scouting combine before the Nets used the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":48343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[3124,1260,35848,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-48342","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-brooklyn-nets","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-nba-summer-league","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114816945110344227","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}