The Hawks have finalized their roster for next week’s Summer League set to take place in Las Vegas. The roster will be headlined by last year’s second-round pick, Sharife Cooper, as well as the team’s selections in this year’s NBA draft, AJ Griffin (16th overall) and Tyrese Martin (51st).
The roster also will include current Hawks two-way guard Chaundee Brown, as well as NBA veteran and former Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket Marcus Georges-Hunt. Alpha Kaba, the No. 60 overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft by the Hawks, also will join the team.
For Brown, Cooper, Griffin and Martin, next week’s tournament is the time for them to begin showing why they should feature in the Hawks’ rotation next season.
Hawks coach Nate McMillan already has talked about the competition Griffin and Martin will face when training camp begins in the fall. But that competition begins next week when the Hawks open the tournament July 9.
“We talked about training and Summer League and how Summer League is an opportunity for them to get that first opportunity to compete because everyone in Summer League is competing for a job, or an opportunity, and I think is really competitive,” McMillan said. “So in about (one) week, they’ll be thrown right into the fire.”
Hawks assistant coach Nick Van Exel will lead the team at this year’s tournament. It is the first time that Van Exel will serve as a head coach for a full Summer League. Fellow Hawks assistant coach Jamelle McMillan and player-development coach Paul Jesperson and College Park Skyhawks coach Steve Gansey will join Van Exel on the bench.
The Hawks and the remaining 29 teams will play five games each. The two teams with the best record will face off in the championship game, scheduled for July 17. The other 28 teams will play in games determined by the league.
Here’s a look at the Hawks’ first four games (all times Eastern):
- July 9 vs. Utah (7:30 p.m., NBA TV)
- July 11 vs. New Orleans (9:30 p.m., NBA TV)
- July 12 vs. Miami (7 p.m., NBA TV)
- July 14 vs. San Antonio (3 p.m., ESPN2)
Here is the Hawks’ Summer League roster, which the team said is subject to change.
2022 Summer League roster
No. Player Pos. Ht. Wt. Prior to NBA/Home country
2 Sharife Cooper G 6-1 180 Auburn/USA
14 AJ Griffin F 6-6 222 Duke/USA
19 Joel Ayayi G 6-5 180 Gonzaga/France
22 Tyrese Martin G 6-6 215 Connecticut/USA
24 Alpha Kaba F 6-10 242 Royal Hali Gaziantep/France
25 Tyson Etienne G 6-2 203 Wichita State/USA
26 Max Heidegger G 6-3 180 UC Santa Barbara/USA
30 Marcus Georges-Hunt G 6-6 220 Georgia Tech/USA
31 James Akinjo G 6-1 190 Baylor/USA
33 Grant Golden F 6-10 255 Richmond/USA
34 Anthony Duruji F 6-7 209 Florida/USA
35 Chandler Hutchison F 6-7 197 Boise State/USA
39 Chris Clemons G 5-9 180 Campbell/USA
45 Chaundee Brown G 6-5 215 Michigan/USA
64 Justin Tillman F 6-8 229 Virginia Commonwealth/USA
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