The best player on the floor in the Clippers' 128-120 overtime win over the Timberwolves wasn't the No. 5 overall pick. It was the undrafted guy on a two-way deal.
That's Sean Pedulla, and what he did in the last two minutes should tell every front office something.
First, some context so nobody oversells this. This was the 2026 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, played Friday, July 17 at the Thomas & Mack Center, and it was the consolation/placement bracket, the finale for both franchises. No banner comes from this. The Lakers, Rockets, Grizzlies and Warriors were the ones playing for the actual tournament title. Don't read this as a verdict on anybody's ceiling. Read it as a showcase, and in a showcase, you find out who shows up.
Pedulla showed up.
The turning point had a name
The Clippers built a lead of as many as 27 points in the third quarter, then nearly gave the whole thing away. Minnesota went nuclear, hanging 40-plus in the fourth quarter to knot it at 115-115 and force overtime. Jaylin Williams was a problem off the bench all night, 21 points on 8-for-10 shooting, five threes. Nate Santos, who'd started the game 0-for-3, erupted for 13 in the fourth, including back-to-back four-point plays. That's a comeback that should have won a Summer League game.
It didn't, because the two-minute overtime belonged entirely to Pedulla.
He scored nine of the Clippers' 13 points in the overtime period, two triples and a tough lefty and-one in between, and quietly erased everything Minnesota had just done. He finished with 24 points, a game-high 11 assists and six steals. That's not a scorer padding a stat line. That's a point guard running a team through the exact moment a young roster usually folds.
Wagler's night was good. Pedulla's was better.
Keaton Wagler was fine. Better than fine, actually. He led all scorers with 26 points, and reportedly this was the most aggressive he'd looked all summer after some early "bust" chatter. Good. That's what you want from a lottery pick answering back.
But points in a chaotic, 13-lead-change track meet (this game had eight ties and 13 lead changes, with the Clippers shooting 55% and winning the paint 56-36) are cheaper than the plays Pedulla made under a full-blown Minnesota avalanche. Anyone can score when the game's flowing. Pedulla scored when the game was screaming.
Here's why it matters beyond the box score: Pedulla was the 2025-26 Kia NBA G League Rookie of the Year, signed to a two-way contract in February, with a handful of NBA appearances to his name. Fittingly, his NBA debut came against these same Timberwolves. He's exactly the kind of player teams talk themselves out of on draft night and then can't live without in April. My guess: he plays himself into real minutes.
The Clippers also dropped 128 points, a Summer League single-game scoring record, per NBA.com. Nice trivia. But the record isn't the story. The undrafted kid closing out a lottery pick's own showcase game is the story.
Believe the two-way guys. They keep telling you who they are.