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UCLA Basketball: 3 Bruins to play in the Summer League for Indiana

By Mike Regalado

LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 11: T.J. Wallace #2 of the Pacific Tigers attempts a layup around TJ Leaf #22 and Aaron Holiday #3 of the UCLA Bruins during the first half at Pauley Pavilion on November 11, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 11: T.J. Wallace #2 of the Pacific Tigers attempts a layup around TJ Leaf #22 and Aaron Holiday #3 of the UCLA Bruins during the first half at Pauley Pavilion on November 11, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /
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The NBA Summer League is almost here and for three former UCLA basketball players, they will be representing the Indiana Pacers.

A few weeks ago, the Indiana Pacers selected former UCLA basketball point guard Aaron Holiday in the 2018 NBA Draft. With Indiana making this pick, they now had four former Bruins on the roster: Holiday, TJ Leaf, Ike Anigbogu and Darren Collison.

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Well now that Holiday is with the Pacers, he has to get up to speed and will do that in the NBA Summer League, though he won’t go at it alone for Indiana. Leaf and another former Bruin, Bryce Alford, will be playing side-by-side in the mini-league.

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This will be a reunion for the three former Bruins as they all suited up for UCLA during the 2016-17 season. That year, the Bruins had the best year under head coach Steve Alford as they went 31-5 and made it back to the Sweet Sixteen.

With all this familiarity, the Indiana summer team will have a lot of chemistry already built in, but the Bruins will be looking to make personal gains.

For Holiday, it will be his first stint in the pros. Having been selected in the first round, he has a guaranteed contract with the Pacers and should be the backup to Collison, but he also has to lock that in and the Summer League will help with that.

For Leaf, he is looking to take a step forward in his development next year and that begins with the upcoming summer league. Last season he only played 8.7 minutes per game, logging 2.9 ppg and 1.5 rpg. At UCLA, he led all scorers with 16.3 ppg, so its not out of the question to up his game.

Alford has been on a different path. He was undrafted in 2017, but played for the Golden State Warriors in the 2017 Summer League. Before the 2017-18 season he signed with the Oklahoma City Thunder, but mostly played in the G-Legaue for the OKC’s affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue. Now he is trying to make an impact with Indiana.

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All three are looking to make an impression and land a roster spot with Indy and that all begins on July 6 in Las Vegas as the Pacers begin their Summer League schedule. Go Bruins!