Cavaliers Loss in First NBA 2K26 Summer League Game Invoked Trauma for Fans

The Cleveland Cavaliers kicked off their NBA 2K26 Summer League on mostly high notes. Even though they came into it without a prized first-round pick to evaluate, they still had plenty of young talent to root on. They did come away with two second-rounders, Duke's Tyrese Proctor and Saliou Niang out of Italy.

Proctor had a cool 14 points, two assists, and two steals on 5-13 shooting, showcasing his NBA-ready deep jumper with 3-7 marks from beyond the arc. Niang chipped in 10 points and also came away with a theft. He also put his length, athleticism, and rebounding tenacity on display, pulling down five boards in just 23 minutes of action. The star of the show, though, was second-year forward Nae'Qwan Tomlin, who finished with a game-high 30 points on an absurd 12-16 shooting. He proved why he earned a 10-day contract from the Cavaliers last season and parlayed that into a two-way deal.

However, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. The Cavs may have gotten some encouraging individual performances from their young prospects, but they couldn't get the win. Normally, a one-point loss in Summer League wouldn't be anything to lose sleep over. The way Cleveland lost to the Indiana Pacers was horrifyingly reminiscent of their second-round elimination in these past playoffs, though.

The Cavs may have been dispatched in five quick games while dealing with some devastating injuries, but it wasn't like the series was always out of hand. In fact, despite missing both Darius Garland and Evan Mobley, they nearly took Game 2 to tie things up at 1-1.

Cleveland led by 17 with seconds left in the third quarter, by 11 with 8:27 remaining, by seven with 57 seconds on the clock, and by two with just 12.1 ticks to go. They ended up losing by one to fall into a 0-2 hole that proved to be insurmountable. They wound up winning Game 3 with Garland and Mobley back in tow. Had they held on to win Game 2, who knows what would have happened in the rest of the series?