Reed Sheppard earns NBA 2K25 All-Summer League First Team honors

The NBA 2K25 Summer League concludes on Monday night, but before the Miami Heat and Memphis Grizzlies do battle — First Team All-Summer League honors were announced.

Over half of the First Team were comprised of players from either Miami or Memphis — but highly-touted Houston Rockets rookie Reed Sheppard found his name on the list as well after making a splash of his own over the past two weeks.

Sheppard proved that he could do it all in four summer league appearances. The Kentucky alum averaged 20.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 2.7 steals and 1.3 blocks per game for the Rockets.

The list is as follows:

GG Jackson II – Memphis Grizzlies
Jordan Miller – Los Angeles Clippers
Scotty Pippen Jr. – Memphis Grizzlies
Reed Sheppard – Houston Rockets
Kel’el Ware – Miami Heat

The performance for Sheppard follows a stellar season at Kentucky. During the 2023-24 season, Sheppard averaged 12.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.5 steals and a team-high 4.5 assists per game. Despite being the No. 3 overall pick, Sheppard did not start at Kentucky so his inflated NBA Summer League statistics do not come as much of a surprise given his minutes increased 15 minutes from college to the summer league.

At Kentucky, the Bluegrass native shot 53.6 percent from the floor and 51.1 percent from the 3-point line, the most accurate single-season 3-point percentage in program history. However, his success from deep did not show its face during his four-game stint in the summer league, knocking down triples at a 27.8% clip.

The most impressive outing of Sheppard’s summer league stint saw him do a bit of everything against the Washington Wizards. He tallied 22 points while securing six rebounds, seven assists and a summer league-high five seasons to go with one block. He would go on to score 20 or more points in three of the Rockets’ four games in Vegas.

While he didn’t shoot the thriple at the same rate as he did at Kentucky during the four-game stretch, it may be a good thing that Sheppard proved that he was able to showcase more than just his 3-point shot. He appeared to have imroved his mid-range game, always had active hands on defense, improved his passing skills and being the deep threat he is, has the ability to creat open looks for his teammates. He played calm in high intensity moments and just like he did at Kentucky, can forget mistakes quickly to make an impact on the next play.

Now, Sheppard can hit the drawing board at Rockets camp as he adjusts to the next level ahead of the 2024 NBA regular season ahead of opening day on Oct. 22.