Indiana Pacer Orlando Johnson left UCSB as the school’s all-time leading scorer. (Presidio Sports Photo)
Three former UC Santa Barbara Gauchos are currently mixing it up in the NBA’s Summer League games being played in Orlando and Las Vegas.
Orlando Johnson, drafted No. 36 overall by Sacramento before being traded to the Indiana Pacers, has played in five games while averaging 33.4 minutes a game.
Johnson averaged 12.4 points per game but shot only 26.3 percent from the field and 62 percent from the foul line. The Pacers finished 2-3 in the Orlando Summer League.
Johnson’s best game was his first, when he scored 19 points and added nine rebounds, in a 69-63 Pacers victory over Philadelphia.
“I just have to calm down and let the game come to me,” Johnson told NBA.com following that first game. “I tended to rush things. My decision-making has to be better and I can’t try for home-run plays, but just make simple basketball plays.”
James Nunnally and Greg Somogyi, undrafted teammates of Johnson’s at UCSB, are also competing in the NBA summer leagues. While Johnson just completed his run in Orlando, Nunnally and Somogyi are just getting started in Las Vegas.
Nunnally, a 6’5″ small forward, ?is playing for the Sacramento Kings. In his only game so far, Nunnally played 18 minutes and attempted three 3-point shots. None of the attempts fell, but Nunnally finished with three points making 3-of-4 at the line.
Somogyi, at 7’3″ one of the taller players in the Summer League, is playing for the Los Angeles Lakers. The Hungarian national played just five minutes but pulled down three rebounds in his short time on the court. The Lakers were drilled by the Golden State Warriors 90-50 behind 24 points from Klay Thompson and 23 from top-draft pick Harrison Barnes.
While the Orlando league finished play on Friday, the Las Vegas league features games from July 13 until July 22.
