Point guard Yuki Togashi made his NBA Summer League debut on Friday.
The 20-year-old came off the bench and saw 6:01 of playing time for the Dallas Mavericks against the New York Knicks at Cox Pavillion in Las Vegas.
In the Knicks’ 76-64 victory over the Mavericks, Togashi had two rebounds and an assist. Togashi, who played for the bj-league’s Akita Northern Happinets the past two seasons, didn’t attempt a shot. Former Tokyo Apache post player Jeremy Tyler had six points and three rebounds for New York, and picked up five fouls in 13:44 of court time.
On Saturday, the Mavericks defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 93-85 in their second Summer League game in Las Vegas, and Togashi didn’t play.
Dallas faces the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday. It’s another possible opportunity for Togashi to tests his skills aginst NBA talent.
In Friday’s game, Togashi, sporting jersey No. 18, stepped onto the court for the first time with 1:32 to play in the first quarter and Dallas leading 15-13. He was replaced by Gal Mekel at the 8:38 mark of the second quarter.
With 4.8 seconds left in the third quarter, Togashi was back on the court, and was taken out with 8:26 remaining in the fourth quarter.
He saw his third stint of the game at the end, getting the call with 1:28 left. Togashi picked up two rebounds down the stretch. The Niigata Prefecture native, who led the bj-league in assists (7.9 per game last season), chalked up an assist on forward Eric Griffin’s slam dunk with 1:02 remaining.
Togashi, attempting to become the second Japanese to earn a spot on an NBA roster (Yuta Tabuse was the first), has received a lot of attention on social media in recent days.
This includes messages from those connected to Montrose Christian School in Rockville, Maryland, which he attended for his senior year of high school.
For instance, the Montrose Christian basketball program’s Twitter account sent out this tweet on Saturday: “Big S/O (shoutout) to @MCSHoops 2012 alum Yuki Togashi @YukiTogashi making his NBA Summer League debut with the Mavericks! Proud of you Yuk!”
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