Former Kansas shooting guard/small forward Johnny Furphy hit two 3-pointers and scored eight points on 3-of-4 shooting in the first quarter of Indiana’s NBA 2K26 Summer League opener against Cleveland on Thursday at Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas.
The 6-foot-9, 20-year-old Melbourne, Australia, native also had three turnovers and one assist in an active nine minutes of play.
Any chance of a memorable outing for the second-year NBA player ended when, according to the Indianapolis Star, he took an elbow to the jaw late in the first quarter and did not return. Furphy did sit on the bench the second half of Indy’s 116-115 victory.
NBA TV sideline reporter Dennis Scott reported Furphy did not suffer a concussion. The Pacers’ summer coach, Isaac Yacob, said, “He got hit pretty hard. We held him out for precautionary reasons. But ‘Furph’ I’m sure will be fine.
“Before that he was good. I thought he was keeping us afloat. Defensively ... obviously we are a smaller team. He’s a big body and a great rebounder.”
Indiana’s president of basketball operations, Kevin Pritchard, told the media earlier this week the team envisions a bigger role for Furphy during his second year in the league.
Furphy, the fifth pick in the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft, averaged 2.1 points and 1.4 rebounds while logging 7.6 minutes per game in 50 games a year ago for Indy. He had averaged 9.0 points and 4.9 rebounds per game in his one-and-done season at KU (2023-24).
“The thing that we’ve seen already is our second-round pick, Furphy ... he’s gained 20 pounds, and he’s been the best player at our practices for summer league,” Pritchard said. “We’ll see how he does out there (at summer league), but we think there’s a chance he gets in our rotation in a big way. He’s showing a lot of promise. We’re excited about him.”
He continued.
“So in the second round, they’re a little bit flyers, but if they fit you culturally and they really want to work, they get better,” added Pritchard, a starter on KU’s 1988 NCAA title team.