Jonathon Simmons Wins MVP for 2015 Las Vegas NBA Summer League Championship

The San Antonio Spurs captured the 2015 NBA Las Vegas Summer League championship over the Phoenix Suns Monday night, and Jonathon Simmons was a big reason why.

His 23 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals were enough to earn the 25-year-old MVP honors in the title game, per NBA TV:

Simmons can thank NBA.com's John Schuhmann in part for the hardware:

He's the second Spurs player to receive a summer-league MVP award this year after teammate Kyle Anderson was named the best player for the entire tournament. He's also in good company among more experienced Spurs players, per Quixem Ramirez of Texas State's University Star:

Simmons has been a standout performer for San Antonio over the past two weeks. Entering Monday, he was averaging 16 points, 4.2 boards and three assists for the Spurs. Between he and Anderson, head coach Becky Hammon had one heck of a one-two punch.

Simmons drew attention particularly for his impressive dunking ability. His right-handed throwdown against the Atlanta Hawks in Sunday's semifinal round was one of the tournament's best. He also brought the Thomas and Mack Center crowd to its feet Monday night with an alley-oop from Anderson:

Ideally, Simmons can use San Antonio's summer-league title and his MVP as a springboard heading into the 2015-16 season. If he can't find a role on the Spurs' bench, maybe another team will give him the chance.

He played 50 games for the Austin Spurs in the NBA D-League last year. In 33.8 minutes a night, he averaged 15.2 points on 49.5 percent shooting, 4.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists. Rotoworld's Michael Gallagher went a step further and provided Simmons' shot chart from last year:

It's never a good idea to put too much stock into summer-league results, but Simmons did about as much as he could in Las Vegas to prove himself worthy of some sort of place on an NBA roster.

The question now is whether he'll receive the opportunity.