LAS VEGAS — When RJ Barrett took the floor on Tuesday night for his third game in the NBA Summer League, he took the hard lessons learned from the first two nights and worked his way into the action. He passed to teammate, fellow rookie and childhood friend Ignas Brazdeikis on his first possession and went minutes without attempting a shot.
So far, so good. Then he attempted his first shot. It was swatted away. He retreated to the three-point line for his next attempt and put up an airball.
But if the lessons have come painfully in his first tentative steps into the NBA, one thing that Barrett has shown is that he isn’t lacking for confidence.