Ike Nwamu will play for the Miami Heat’s 2018 NBA Summer League team.
The Miami Heat may not have had a pick in Thursday night’s NBA Draft, but they wasted little time going after interesting undrafted free agents to add to their Summer League roster.
One of several players to be signed so far, Ike Nwamu, who the Heat undoubtedly know very well, is set to show the Heat just exactly what it is he’s got when they play in Sacramento July 2-5 and in Las Vegas July 6-17.
During his college career, Nwamu played for three different universities. First Cleveland State (2011-12), then Mercer (2013-15), and finally UNLV (2015-16). He would then go undrafted in 2016, but would later be selected by the Heat’s G-League affiliate team, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, with the No. 22 overall pick in the 2016 NBA D-League Draft.
In his most recent season with the Skyforce, he averaged 14.5 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.0 steal per contest, while shooting 42 percent from the field and 36 percent from 3-point range. His points per game and assists per game numbers saw improvement from his first season with Sioux Falls, as did his shooting efficiency.
Without a doubt, his best performance with Sioux Falls came on January 27, 2018. Nwamu finished that night with an incredible stat-line of 37 points, eight assists and seven rebounds (all career-highs) in a road win over the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.
The first thing most people notice about Nwamu when watching him play is that he’s a shooter; like, a really good one.
He loves to catch and shoot; if defenders give him space, he’ll let it fly and put the ball in the basket more times than not. He also isn’t afraid to put the ball on the floor and finish strong at the basket; he’s got incredible dunking and leaping abilities and is a putback dunk threat on any given play.
And on top of all that, he’s a solid defender with good instincts.
It’s no secret that the Heat have a very tight-knit relationship with their G-League affiliate.
The way the Heat believe in hard work and have a winning attitude (in other words the famous Heat Culture), is exactly the same way the Skyforce operate. Having said that, you can expect Ike Nwamu to be familiar with what the Heat want and to leave everything he’s got out on the floor for Miami this summer.
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Nwamu certainly has an excellent opportunity here, but will he show the Heat that he’s worth holding on to? Only time will tell.