Victor Wembanyama made a shaky start to life in the NBA on Friday night with a poor shooting performance in the San Antonio Spurs' Summer League opener, but fellow rookies Scoot Henderson and Amen Thompson made their mark in Las Vegas.
Number-one overall pick Wembanyama went 2-13 from the field in his first performance for the Spurs at Thomas & Mack Center in a low-scoring win over the Charlotte Hornets, but it was the third and fourth picks in last month's draft that stole the show in Sin City.
Henderson and Thompson faced off on the court and both were hugely impressive for the Portland Trail Blazers and the Houston Rockets respectively. Point guard Henderson ran the show for the Blazers with 15 points, six assists and five rebounds, producing several highlight moments, while Thompson accumulated 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in a dramatic win for the Rockets.
Jabari Smith Jr, the third-overall pick in 2022, had a tricky rookie season with Houston but he started Summer League in stunning style with 33 points and a last-second buzzer-beating three-pointer to win 100-99.
While Wembanyama's nine-point performance showed the 19-year-old has plenty of work to do to settle in with the Spurs, Henderson and Thompson will be pleased with their debut outings on an NBA court.
However, both Henderson, 19, and 20-year-old Thompson suffered injury scares on Friday night, leaving the game early. Henderson went off in third quarter with a shoulder issue, while Thompson hurt his ankle in the fourth and didn't return.
"It's pretty sore," said Thompson, who will undergo an MRI scan on Saturday. "I just blocked the shot and landed on his foot, twisted my ankle."
He added: "We looked way better than we did in practice and just moving the ball. I just felt like we played a good game."
Henderson did not speak to reporters after the game and Blazers Summer League coach Jonah Herscu said he was unable to provide an update on the player's health, but he was pleased with his performance.
"Scoot was great," he told ESPN. "When he's in an attack mindset and getting in the paint, it's really good. And point guard is the first line of defense defensively, so I thought his pressure on Thompson was really good, picking him up near half-court, in the backcourt. And so I thought he played with good thrust tonight."
It remains to be seen whether Henderson or Thompson will feature again during the Summer League programme, which ends on July 17, but Portland and Houston fans will be pleased with what they have seen from their new prospects in their first appearance.
