Watch: Jabari Smith Jr. beats the buzzer to lift Rockets past Blazers

With seconds remaining in the Rockets-Blazers game, Smith caught a home run pass and drilled a three-pointer as time expired to give Houston a 100-99 victory.

When a lottery pick like Smith returns for a sophomore season at Summer League, the team usually expects him to dominate. Smith’s 33 points and a game-winner is exactly the kind of effort Houston wanted to see after an up-and-down rookie season.

The shot electrified the crowd, which had previously been openly booing anything that delayed the subsequent Wembanyama game. Fouls drew boos. Free throws drew boos. Even the timeout Houston called to set up Smith’s game-winner drew a cacophony of disapproval from the crowd.

Perhaps that’s the lesson the NBA can take away from this game. Forget ideas like the midseason tournament or mic-ing up young players. If the NBA really wants to build interest in up-and-coming teams, it should just schedule games ahead of Wembanyama’s contests, and watch the sales of Smith's jerseys soar.