Cunningham, Barnett, Robertson fighting for playing time

The coming week is pretty bleak for US sports fans, especially with the conclusion of the Women’s World Cup, Gold Cup and the seeming wrap up of the NBA offseason. Also, no MLB unless you’re reeeeeeeeeeeeally jonesing to watch the All-Star game.

However, we are now firmly in the, “NBA Summer League and WNBA,” portion of July, and there’s plenty of Mizzou action going around there!

Sophie Cunningham continues to get good minutes for the Mercury — she grabbed two boards and two assists in 16 minutes during the Mercury’s 65-63 win over the Atlanta Dream. Cunningham clearly didn’t show enough in Friday’s start to continue earning that spot, but she continues to build on the minutes she’s getting.

Our sister site, Swish Appeal, even highlighted Cunningham as one of the standout rookies of the WNBA season so far.

On a Mercury team with a lot of new faces, Sophie Cunningham has emerged as the rookie to beat... If [her recent] output is the baseline Cunningham is trying to set for the rest of her career, the Mercury could sure use it right now.

In Las Vegas, the NBA Summer League continues. Mizzou alumni Jordan Barnett (Spurs) and Kassius Robertson (Hornets) faced off last night. Barnett had himself a good night.

It was Barnett’s first time getting action in the Spurs two games this summer. It’s an imperfect stat, but also worth pointing out that Barnett had a team-best +/- of 20 on the game.

Unfortunately, just a few nights after getting nine points on 3-4 shooting, Kassius Robertson didn’t see any game action. It’s still early in the proceedings, but Robertson (and Barnett) will have to make every bit of the opportunities given them if they hope to have a shot at the NBA this season... though the state of Charlotte’s roster holds out more hope for Robertson.

More Links:

• Mad Max Scherzer won’t be appearing in his seventh All-Star game this week after experiencing back tightness in his last two appearances.
• More premium recruiting material from PowerMizzou: A.J. Blankenship profiled 2020 target Isaiah Jackson and Sean Williams did an overall review of defensive recruiting.
• Ben Askren is, understandably, pretty upset about his 5-second loss from Saturday