Former Tar Heel and now current Brooklyn Nets player Drake Powell will miss the NBA Summer League as a precautionary measure due to an injury. This was first reported by the [New York Post](https://nypost.com/2025/07/07/sports/nets-draft-pick-drake-powell-not-playing-in-summer-league-due-to-knee-injury/). This is bittersweet news considering the fact that Powell had just signed his rookie deal with the Brooklyn Nets earlier yesterday.
According to the NY Post, Powell has been dealing with tendinopathy in his left knee. This injury has been there since a little before his draft workouts, meaning that somehow he was able to record his 43-inch vertical leap during the combine while having an injured knee. The obvious thing to note with this is that doing such a thing while hurt is really, really impressive, but it also emphasizes that Powell probably could play if the Nets didn’t want to play it safe. With everything going on in the NBA with particular injuries, I can’t say that I blame them.
Per the NY Post, here is what Powell had to say about the injury:
> “Absolutely. It’s extremely disappointing not to play \[in summer league\] because coming in with these guys, I want to compete with them,” Powell said Monday at an appearance with the other Nets rookies at a camp for kids in Sunset Park in Brooklyn. “So yeah it’s definitely frustrating, but I understand it. I’d say it’s more of a precaution type thing right now.”
While it’s a bummer that we do not get to see Powell play in the Summer League, I would still be surprised if we do not see him play during the NBA regular season. The Nets seem like they are in a rebuild, and making sure their rookies see the floor is likely important in figuring out what they have and don’t have. Hopefully Powell will have a speedy recovery, because I personally am really excited to see what he will be able to do in the NBA.