WATCH: Former Alabama star J.D. Davison erupts for monster NBA Summer League performance
Former Alabama star J.D. Davison flashed some big-time ability during his lone season with the Crimson Tide as a freshman. Just ask former Auburn star Walker Kessler, whom Davison posterized in the Alabama-Auburn matchup last year, delivering one of the biggest posterizations of the 2021-2022 college basketball season. The former Alabama star has taken a few games to get rolling in the NBA Summer League, but finally found the form that showed everyone why many were projecting him as a lottery pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
Davison exploded for a monster performance on Thursday for the Boston Celtics against the Memphis Grizzlies, stuffing the stat sheet with 28 points, five rebounds, 10 assists, three steals, and connecting on four three-pointers.
Check out the highlights here.
Davison led six different Celtics that scored in double figures in their 108-91 victory. The win helped Boston close out pool play in the Las Vegas Summer League with a 3-1 record. They’ll have one more game this weekend that will be announced on Friday once pool play is completed.
The alley-oop feed in the lane was simply a thing of beauty there. Nice touch and perfect placement by Davison. His 10 assists led both teams.
Before Thursday’s performance, he’d only scored 20 points in the first three games of Summer League. He cleared that number in the third quarter alone against the Grizzlies. Davison has already signed a two-way contract with the Celtics, but with more performances like that one, he’ll be pushing hard for a spot on their 15-man roster.
The former Alabama star talks about ways he can help the Celtics
He was selected by the Boston Celtics in the second round of the 2022 NBA Draft after initially being projected as a lottery pick. Despite his fall down the boards, the Alabama native is bringing a unique mindset to his professional career which mirrors that of a new teammate.
During a press conference before the start of Summer League games, JD Davison spoke about his ability to impact the game on defense for the Celtics.
“In Boston, you’ve really got to play defense,” said Davison. “They were, I think, the best defense in the league. So you’ve got to come in here and be a dawg. I can help them improve on that and build it all on the defensive end.”
Davison also had high praise for his new teammate Marcus Smart, who exemplifies many of the defensive characteristics he wants to obtain and leads the team on the court. The two have similar paths as former five-star guards who were drafted by the Boston Celtics and now look to hang their hat on the defensive side of the game.
The first step in that journey to make an impact comes over the next month as Davison plays in the Summer League circuit with other young players attempting to earn a spot on the regular season roster. With so much on the line for so many players, the young point guard is remaining focused on one goal.
“Just go out there, be me, lead my team to the win,” said Davison. “Four wins and then we go to the tournament. So just leading my team to wins and just go out there and have fun.”
More about JD Davison
In his lone season playing for Alabama, J.D. Davison played in all 33 games as the primary backup to veteran point guard Jahvon Quinerly. With that said, the star freshman did start six of those games. For his performance, Davison earned SEC All-Freshman honors while averaging 8.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and a team-leading 4.8 assists.
Coming out of high school, Davison was the No. 11 player nationally, top point guard and top player from the state of Alabama, per the On3 Consensus. He was one of five additions to the roster, which helped make up the nation’s No. 9 recruiting class (No. 3 in the SEC).
On3’s James Fletcher III also contributed to this article.