---
title: "USC's Ezra Ausar Signs With the Miami Heat for Summer League"
description: "Ezra Ausar, a productive forward in his lone season at USC, is getting his shot at the NBA the hard way. After going unpicked in the 2026 draft, he has signed with the Miami Heat as an undrafted free agent to play in Summer League — the audition where undrafted players try to turn a tryout into a career."
category: "Sports"
category_url: https://herald.la/category/sports
author: "Anjali Rao"
published: 2026-07-02T11:20:22.000Z
updated: 2026-07-02T11:20:22.000Z
canonical: https://herald.la/article/usc-s-ezra-ausar-signs-with-the-miami-heat-for-summer-league
tags: ["USC Trojans", "Ezra Ausar", "Miami Heat", "NBA", "college basketball"]
---
# USC's Ezra Ausar Signs With the Miami Heat for Summer League

Ezra Ausar, a productive forward in his lone season at USC, is getting his shot at the NBA the hard way. After going unpicked in the 2026 draft, he has signed with the Miami Heat as an undrafted free agent to play in Summer League — the audition where undrafted players try to turn a tryout into a career.

For every player drafted into the NBA, others take a longer road. Ezra Ausar, who spent this past season with USC, is now on that road: undrafted, but signed by the Miami Heat to play for their Summer League team, [according to NBA undrafted free-agent trackers](https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/nba-undrafted-free-agents-tracker-020805538.html).

## A strong final season

Ausar, a forward, was one of the Trojans' most reliable contributors in the 2025-26 season, averaging 14.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.7 assists in nearly 30 minutes a game, [per his player profile](https://basketball.realgm.com/player/Ezra-Ausar/Summary/160216). Those are the kind of steady, physical-forward numbers that catch an NBA staff's eye even when they don't translate into a draft slot.

## What Summer League means

Going undrafted is not the end of the story — it is a different beginning. Each summer, the NBA's Summer League gives undrafted players, second-year prospects and hopefuls a stage to prove themselves in front of coaches and front offices. A strong showing can earn an invitation to training camp, a two-way contract that splits time with the G League, or, occasionally, a spot on the regular roster. For Ausar, the Heat's willingness to bring him aboard is the first hurdle cleared in a long summer of them.

## The Los Angeles connection

For USC, Ausar's signing is a familiar kind of win — a Trojan getting a professional opportunity even without hearing his name called on draft night. He now joins the crowded, high-stakes scrum of Summer League, where dozens of players chase a handful of jobs. Whether he sticks in Miami, lands elsewhere or begins his pro career in the G League, the forward who spent last winter at the Galen Center has done the hard part first: he got his foot in the door.

## Sources

- [NBA undrafted free agents tracker: Where top players not picked in 2026 NBA Draft signed](https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/nba-undrafted-free-agents-tracker-020805538.html)
- [Ezra Ausar Player Profile, USC](https://basketball.realgm.com/player/Ezra-Ausar/Summary/160216)