Jazz rookie Keyonte George is on a mission to prove he has what it takes to be an NBA-level point guard

Keyonte George grew up idolizing Russell Westbrook.

A point guard with a high motor and a penchant for triple-doubles who was never going to relent and never back down, Westbrook could take over a game at any moment and was the NBA’s Most Valuable Player in 2017.

Now George watches players closer to his age he feels he can emulate, players who have skills he wants to develop and improve, but even that small note of realism hasn’t kept him from having lofty goals and following players with impressive resumés.

Most recently George was keeping a close eye on the Denver Nuggets and the point guard who led them to the 2023 NBA title.

“This year I watched a lot of Jamal Murray,” George said. “A point guard that can get downhill, get to his spots. I’m just trying to take little things from his game, taking notes on the different shots that he was getting in the playoffs.”

George also spent time in the offseason working out with Sacramento Kings All-Star De’Aaron Fox.

It’s not an accident or an unintended coincidence that the NBA players George is working out with or watching are high-level point guards.

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The Utah Jazz have a lot of skilled, young players on the wings and in the frontcourt, but they don’t have any certainties with their point guard rotation.

That being said, throughout the draft process one of the biggest questions regarding George was whether he had the ability to play point guard in the NBA, with some believing that he’d be better suited as a shooting guard who didn’t have to make the majority of decisions with the ball in his hands.

“Everything that people have said, I’ve already heard…I’ve seen all the media talking about this and that, the assist-to-turnover ratio,” George said. “So that’s something I wanted to improve on and show people that I can be a point guard, I can take care of the ball.”

The Jazz selected George 16th overall in the 2023 NBA draft believing that he has the ability to be a primary ball handler and playmaker, and George believes it, too. He believes that his shooting and passing can translate to the NBA.

In the Jazz’s first game of Salt Lake City Summer League on Monday, he finished with a team-high 18 points to go with five rebounds, four assists, three steals and just a single turnover.

Adding to the success of that first night was the praise he received from summer league head coach Evan Bradds for his defense.

“Very impressed from the get-go,” Bradds said. “One thing, just seeing him out there talking and pointing, kind of helping direct guys into the right spots, I was very impressed with just his overall awareness…He got switched onto some bigger guys early on and even late and I thought his fight was great, and that’s exactly what I was hoping to see.”

On Wednesday night in the Jazz’s second game of the summer, a 104-94 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, George started out more aggressive than he had on Monday.

After rewatching Monday’s game he saw that he passed up on open shots and was told that he can let it fly when he sees a good look.

He closed out Wednesday night with 14 points on 5 of 10 shooting, hitting 3 of 5 from 3-point range.

Unfortunately in the second half George stepped on another player’s foot. He tweaked his own a tad and had to get checked out by the medical staff, but he said afterward that he was feeling great and fully expected to play in the final game of the Salt Lake City Summer League on Thursday night.

After finishing up his lone collegiate season at Baylor, Monday’s game was the first time that George had played legitimate 5-on-5 basketball and he understandably had quite a bit of nerves, even commenting on the size of the crowd before the team ran out onto the court.

But on Wednesday he felt a little more comfortable and a little more at home.

As the rest of the summer unfolds, with the Jazz heading to Las Vegas for another slate of summer league games, George hopes that all of his skills will shine through and he can continue to prove to the Jazz, the fans and the rest of the basketball world that he deserves his place in the NBA and that he can be the primary ball handler that the Jazz are seeking.

“Shots are gonna fall at the end of the day,” George said. “So it’s just about showing that I can take care of the ball, make the right reads and things of that nature.”