Warrior Insider

Recent University of Hawai’i men’s basketball co-captain Kamaka Hepa will play for the New Orleans Pelicans in the NBA 2K24 Summer League from July 7 through July 17 in Las Vegas.

Hepa is listed as a 6-foot-10, 215-pound forward on the 13-player New Orleans roster, which was released Monday morning. The Pelicans have four games scheduled so far, starting with Friday’s 10:30 a.m. (Hawai’i time) opener against the Minnesota Timberwolves, followed by games against the Golden State Warriors (4 p.m. Sunday), Phoenix Suns ( 2 p.m. July 11) and Charlotte Hornets (1:30 p.m. July 13).

Friday’s game can be seen live on NBA TV; the Sunday and July 11 games will be shown on ESPN2, and the July 13 game will be broadcast on NBA TV. Sunday’s game will be played at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center; the other three games will be played at the adjacent Cox Pavilion.

According to the Pelicans.com Web site, the date and opponent for New Orleans’ fifth game will be determined by the results of the first four games. All 30 NBA teams will participate in the league. The top four teams from the four-game pool play format will advance to the July 16 semifinals, and a championship game will be played on July 17.

The other 26 teams who don’t qualify for the playoffs will play their fifth game on either July 15 or July 16.

Hepa, who spent three years mostly as a reserve at Texas, started all 60 games he appeared in at UH the past two seasons. As a senior, he averaged 11.7 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, earning Honorable Mention on the All-Big West Team after helping the Warriors to a 22-11 record.

At 6-10, Hepa is an accomplished shooter, hitting 38.7 percent of his 3-point attempts and 84.2 percent (48 of 57) from the free throw line this past season. He is one of only two “pure” forwards listed on the Pelicans’ Summer League roster, along with 6-foot-6 E.J. Liddell (Ohio State). Four other players are listed as either Forward/Center or Guard/Forward.