March Madness Hero Joins Cavaliers for NBA Summer League

With the 2024 NBA Draft officially in the books, teams around the league are beginning to sign undrafted rookies to two-way contracts and put together their rosters for the NBA Summer League, which begins next month.

The Cleveland Cavaliers only took one player in the draft, Cal’s Jaylon Tyson with the No. 20 overall pick. Tyson should be fun to watch in the summer league as the Cavs could use more young rotation players next season. 

In addition to Tyson, the Cavaliers have another player on their summer league roster, who will garner a ton of attention based on his performance in the NCAA tournament this spring.

Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com reported Thursday that former NC State Wolfpack star DJ Burns has agreed to a deal with the Cavs to play with them in the summer league.

Burns was one of the fan-favorites and heroes of March Madness as he led the No. 11 seed NC State Wolfpack to the Final Four. Burns’ play in the tourney took the country by storm as he used multiple ways to score while doing a little bit of everything on the floor.

The former Winthrop star averaged 16.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game in the NCAA tournament. After Wolfpack’s season ended in the national semifinal against Purdue, the March Madness star began receiving NBA draft workouts – a clear sign that the league had noticed what he did in the tourney.

In his final year at NC State, Burns averaged 12.9 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 2.9 assists in 24.9 minutes per game. The 6-foot-9 forward will begin his professional career in the summer league, which is a perfect opportunity to earn a two-way contract with the Cavaliers or another team.

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