MORGANTOWN — If we can agree that one must take the first step before reaching the second, then Deuce McBride’s early returns from his NBA Summer League experience have been nothing but positive.
The former WVU standout had himself quite a night late Wednesday in Las Vegas, scoring 22 points and going a perfect 6-of-6 from 3-point range, as the New York Knicks took down the L.A. Lakers, 91-82.
Through his first three summer league games, McBride has been better than advertised, shooting 63% from the floor, 61% from 3-point range, while averaging 15 points, five rebounds and 26 minutes per game.
The Knicks play Detroit at 8 p.m. Friday (NBA TV) and then Cleveland at 8 p.m. Saturday (ESPN2), before the summer league playoffs begin Monday.
This is all part of McBride’s first step into the NBA, but it must be noted that it’s one step of probably 100 to having an NBA career that lasts more than a couple of seasons.
That’s the window the Knicks have given McBride, signing him for two guaranteed years with a team option for a third.
According to the New York Post, the two years will pay McBride $2 million and he will earn $925,000 in his rookie season.
That’s two years for McBride to prove he belongs, which, so far, he has.
“I like his tenacity, his defensive intensity, he can play on the ball or off the ball,” Knicks summer-league coach Dice Yoshimoto told the New York Post. “I like what we saw. He’s very versatile. He can guard the (point guard) or (shooting guard).”
Against the Lakers, it was former Oklahoma standout Austin Reaves and Texas Tech star Mac McClung matched up against McBride, a far cry from LeBron James and Anthony Davis, so keep that in mind before diving too deep into summer league stats.
It is here where we take a look at what lies ahead for McBride in taking that second step, once the lights of the summer league have been turned off and Las Vegas is in the rearview mirror.
Training camps begin Sept. 28, and McBride will have to find a role on a team that recently signed Kemba Walker to go along with Derrick Rose at point guard, and has rising star R.J. Barrett, 2021 first-round pick Quentin Grimes, and 2020 first-round pick Immanuel Quickley at shooting guard.
It’s here where McBride will prove if he’s got the right stuff or not.
He won’t be going against Reaves and McClung anymore. Instead, McBride will be competing against a former MVP in Rose and a four-time All-Star in Walker. That’s how hard it is to take that second step in the NBA, especially for a kid who was a second-round pick in the draft.
“I feel like this is a league about creating opportunities,” McBride said in interviews following the Lakers game. “I feel like one of my strengths is defense, so I feel like that’s the best way I’m going to create more opportunities for myself.”
McBride’s right about one thing, the NBA does create opportunities. Whether or not he can take advantage will be determined several steps down the road.
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