LAS VEGAS — Kennedy Chandler is on the Nets’ Summer League team in Las Vegas, so there’s no better place for a poker reference.
Chandler might be playing with house money, but he’s not folding.
He’s doubling down and betting on himself.
The lightning-quick little guard was expected to be a first-round pick in 2022, but Memphis took the hometown kid in the second round, handing him a four-year, $7.1 million contract, with three years and $4.9 million guaranteed.
After he struggled with his shot as a rookie, he was waived and is still owed $1.7 million this coming season another $2.1 million the next by the Grizzlies.
But he’s grinding with the Nets’ Summer League team, competing when he could’ve been content.
Chandler is determined to rebuild his confidence in his jumper, and get back to being the player he was in college at Tennessee.
“I don’t really care that they still have to pay me for two years. I really don’t care about that because I want to get paid more,” Chandler told The Post. “It’s not just about the money. I could say ‘Nah, I’m good.’ I could sign a regular G-League, or a two-way.
“But I want to push myself and get back on a contract with another team and get back to what I used to do and be me, be myself.
“I’m not dependent on what the Grizzlies are paying me. I want to get back on my feet. I’ve been grinding a lot this year and keeping quiet and now it’s time to show everybody me and get back to playing basketball.”
Chandler excelled in his lone Volunteers campaign, averaging 13.9 points and 4.7 assists while hitting 38.3 percent from 3-point range.
The Grizzlies drafted the athletic kid from the Memphis suburbs who already had developed a friendship with Ja Morant.
Chandler averaged just 2.2 points and 1.9 assists in 7.8 minutes in 2022-23, however, struggling from behind the arc before he was cut.
“My situation was just so unexpected … just an unfortunate situation. I woke up to it,” Chandler told The Post. “It was a hurtful feeling. Nothing against them. I don’t hate the organization, it’s a great organization.
“But everybody was shocked. I was shocked. I woke up to messages of it. I was asleep.
“It took me a little minute, a couple of weeks to really process, don’t take [anything] for granted, and how it’s a business. But my emotions have gotten so much better and my mental got a lot better. I’m just keeping a smile on my face, and looking forward to the Nets. … I really like the organization, so I’m looking forward to seeing what happens in the future.”
Chandler is a plus athlete with speed and a 41 ½ inch vertical leap, the best at the 2022 combine. But to seize his future, he’s going to have to become a better shooter.
“That’s a big factor for him. … He can’t change how tall he is,” Nets Summer League coach Trevor Hendry said. “The more he drives in the paint, the more the defense is going to sag off him to force him to shoot, so if he can keep the defense honest he can be out there on the court because of his athleticism and his quickness.
“He has some serious athleticism for a guy his size.”
That size — generously listed at 6 feet — was too much for Memphis to overlook, combined with his shooting just .133 from deep.
But Chandler insists it wasn’t his mechanics that needed work, but his mindset.
“I can shoot it. It’s really just about the confidence. My confidence was a little down last year with my shot, just not being openly confident in that shot,” Chandler told The Post. “But ever since I’ve been here from offseason work that confidence has translated over here.
“If I’m missing it or I’m making it, I’m shooting it. I’m feeling confident.
“I’ve been making that shot, so I don’t have doubts of taking that 3-ball compared to what I did last year. … With the Grizzlies, I lost a little confidence, but now I’ve regained that confidence. So I’m excited to get ready for [the Nets’ opener Friday] to show what I could do.”
And to bet on himself.
