Las Vegas Summer League is upon us! For 11 glorious days soaked in the Nevada desert sun and as many free drinks at the baccarat as you can handle, summer league will scratch that itch you have for NBA basketball. You get to see the rookies and stars of tomorrow. You’ll find gems in some of the weirdest basketball you can imagine. And we might even get to see a sudden-death overtime or two if we’re lucky. It’s a long week and a half to either spend in Vegas or at home watching it all. We’re here to help you figure out the best way to follow the action. This is your guide to what’s happening.
Don’t miss the big first game
The NBA knew exactly what it was doing when it scheduled the Dallas Mavericks to take on the Los Angeles Lakers on the first day of summer league in the marquee time slot. Typically, the NBA ensures that the first two picks of the previous month’s NBA Draft face off. This year, that would mean the Mavericks playing the San Antonio Spurs with Cooper Flagg and Dylan Harper squaring off. But the NBA is playing 4D chess instead.
The NBA scheduled Mavs-Lakers on Thursday (8 p.m. ET on ESPN) because it’s going for the social media clicks, views and impressions for Flagg and Bronny James highlights from the same contest. It’s a genius ploy. People often complain about the coverage the 55th pick in the 2024 draft receives, and that he only gets it because his dad is LeBron James. No offense intended to Bronny, but it’s 100 percent because of who his dad is. Some day, he might make his own name, but until he does, the NBA is going to profit off where his name comes from.
Pairing him against one of the more hyped top prospects of the last decade is going to dominate social media. Maybe it will even draw a good number for summer-league ratings. I’m sure we’ll receive an email that the ratings are “up X amount of percentage from summer-league broadcasts of the past across all platforms,” because that’s where the NBA pushes its marketing agenda in the modern era. While you may not be enamored with Bronny at this point, Flagg is worth the price of admission for this first game, or however many games he ends up playing in Vegas.
Bronny James dives for a loose ball during 2024 NBA Summer League. (Candice Ward / Getty Images)
Over a decade ago, the prized location for summer league was in the smaller gym, Cox Pavilion. It was more intimate and provided an unmatched closeness for NBA-style action. We’ve seen some ridiculous performances in there over the years. But the 2014 Andrew Wiggins-Jabari Parker showdown seemed to break that wide open. The lines to get into the smaller gym were so ridiculous that they bordered on being a fire hazard. Eventually, the NBA realized this was a legitimate television product and ticket-selling venture. So the league moved the bigger games into the proper arena of the Thomas & Mack Center. Brandon Ingram facing off against Ben Simmons in 2016 had that venue buzzing. Lonzo Ball making his Lakers summer league debut in 2017, had T&M Center sold out.
Remember when people wondered if Victor Wembanyama was cursed at summer league because he had a weird interaction with Britney Spears outside of a restaurant and then had a bad first game in which Kai Jones dunked on him? Imagine what could happen with Flagg! He might have a Zion Williamson-esque first game in which he’s so good right away that it blows everybody’s minds and almost possibly causes an earthquake to shut down the night. He also could have a miserable opening summer league game and then everybody gets to call him overrated. The possibilities are endless! Or the possibilities are like two or three things? Either way, you don’t want to miss his summer-league debut.
Lock in on the first weekend
You may be looking at 11 days of Las Vegas Summer League and feel a little overwhelmed. Trust me, I’ve been there. Especially after taking in some of the Salt Lake City and California summer league action in the week or so before it tips off. But generally, the first weekend of Vegas action is the one to pay the most attention to. Usually, it’s difficult to predict when a young player, even a top prospect looking to establish himself, is going to be taken out of the summer-league action to avoid injury. That first weekend is the easy money to assume these guys will be active and available. Here are the best games to pay attention to in the first four days:
Thursday (outside of the aforementioned Mavs-Lakers game)
New Orleans Pelicans vs. Minnesota Timberwolves, 3:30 p.m. ET (ESPN2): Jeremiah Fears against Rob Dillingham in a point-guard battle.
San Antonio Spurs vs. Philadelphia 76ers, 10 p.m. ET (ESPN): Harper against VJ Edgecombe for a second-versus-third-pick showdown.
Friday
Utah Jazz vs. Charlotte Hornets, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN): Charlotte passed on Ace Bailey for Kon Knueppel. The Jazz rookie gets to show if that was wise.
Washington Wizards vs. Phoenix Suns, 9 p.m. ET (ESPN): Alex Sarr going against Khaman Maluach will be a fascinating matchup of big men.
Portland Trail Blazers vs. Golden State Warriors, 10 p.m. ET (ESPN2): The debut of the surprise pick of the first round, the Blazers’ Yang Hansen.
Saturday
Dallas Mavericks vs. San Antonio Spurs, 4 p.m. ET (ESPN): Now we get the No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown between Flagg and Harper.
Indiana Pacers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder, 5:30 p.m. ET (NBA TV): We usually have to wait much longer for a rematch of the NBA Finals. Also, let’s watch Nikola Topić!
Sunday
Miami Heat vs. Cleveland Cavaliers, 7:30 p.m. ET (NBA TV): If Kel’el Ware is still playing at this point, he’ll likely put on a show.
Brooklyn Nets vs. Washington Wizards, 8 p.m. ET (ESPN2): I am fascinated to see how all five of the Nets’ first-round picks do.
The five most fun summer league rosters
There are plenty of interesting players to keep an eye on, but only a handful of teams have rosters I’m truly interested in seeing. We don’t know how long the top prospects for each team will play for each summer league team. Any squad with a second-year first-round pick is likely hoping their guy is too good for summer league and will show it in the first game or two. Then they can shut him down to avoid injury.
We saw that with the Lakers and Ingram in 2017. In an overtime game with Ball making his debut, Ingram was lighting up the competition. Magic Johnson and company essentially shut Ingram down before the overtime period because there was nothing else they needed to see. Unless that happens with these teams, these are the rosters I want to see the most.
Minnesota Timberwolves
The Wolves are loaded for the summer session. Dillingham, Terrence Shannon Jr., and Jaylen Clark are all second-year guys the Wolves hope are too good for this summer run after the first game. If they’re playing past the first two games, I’d be surprised. Leonard Miller was the 33rd pick of the 2023 draft, and he’s on the roster despite entering his third season this October. He probably needs to show that he’s too good to be here. On top of that, rookie Joan Beringer (17th pick) will make his debut, and he should provide some rim-rattling plays. The Wolves also have Amari Bailey and Jamal Cain for some depth.
Washington Wizards
The Wizards have seven first-round picks from the 2024 and 2025 drafts combined. They have Alex Sarr, Bub Carrington, Kyshawn George, AJ Johnson and Dillon Jones (recently traded for). Then they grabbed Tre Johnson (sixth) and Will Riley (21st) in this year’s draft. That’s a ton of talent on this roster. I would imagine any good initial game by Sarr will shut him down for the summer. We might really just be here to see how Carrington and Tre Johnson play together for as long as they’re on the court. Leaky Black and big man Liam Robbins are also two names to keep an eye on.
New Orleans Pelicans
Just having Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen in the mix alone would have many of us basketball fans geeked for this team. Fears is going to be a dynamic point guard in this environment, and Queen is a really fun big man with an entertaining personality. Plus, people want to see why Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver gave up that valuable 2026 first-round pick for him. But the Pelicans also have Yves Missi and Antonio Reeves from last season’s roster. Missi was one of the best rookies in the league, and Reeves played quite a bit for the Pels. Throw in 40th pick Micah Peavy, and, baby, you’ve got a stew going.
VJ Edgecombe has impressed early on in summer league action for Philadelphia. (Chris Gardner / Getty Images)
Philadelphia 76ers
Edgecombe, the No. 3 pick last month, is already putting on a show for the Summer Sixers at the SLC Summer League. He had a great debut with some big numbers. Everybody expects that to continue for as long as Daryl Morey allows him to stay out there. With the Sixers’ injury history, maybe it won’t be long. There’s interesting talent outside of him, though. Johni Broome was a star at Auburn, and he’ll throw his strength around Vegas. Jalen Hood-Schifino was a first-rounder two years ago and is already looking for stability after playing for two teams. Justin Edwards and Adem Bona made good impressions for the Sixers last season, and Jalen Slawson could be a fun option for them, too.
Utah Jazz
Ace Bailey will obviously be the draw, but this team is deep outside of him. Isaiah Collier, Kyle Filipowski, Cody Williams, Adama Sanogo, Walter Clayton Jr. and Jaden Springer should all have an opportunity to put up big numbers during this run. Free-throw machine John Tonje will get a chance too. The keys will be seeing what Bailey can do and if Williams can show he’s learned from his horrendous rookie campaign. Also, let’s see Clayton perform after his national title run at Florida.
The championship rounds can be fun
Once we get to July 18-20, summer league goes from group play to single-elimination tournament style to determine a champion. Every team is guaranteed five games of group play, but you’d be surprised how many teams even want to get to those five games. That’s a long time to be in Vegas. Occasionally, some team officials will say off the record that it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world for their squad to be eliminated early. However, some of these teams want to win it all and play to the very end.
Much like mirroring the parity in the NBA during the Adam Silver era, Las Vegas Summer League has seen nine different champions since 2013. The Sacramento Kings and Portland have the most summer league titles with two each. Last year, the Heat beat the Memphis Grizzlies 120-118 in overtime to win the championship. The overtime rules used the Elam ending, where it’s a set score to reach rather than a running clock. Pelle Larsson hit a floater to take home the title.
Four championship games have been decided by three points or less. The most notable player to win the championship MVP was Kyle Kuzma in 2017. (No offense to Trendon Watford and the Blazers’ second title in 2022.) While many teams might check out (and especially have their star prospects check out to make sure they don’t get hurt), this push toward the final night usually gives us some entertaining basketball.
(Top photo of Isaiah Stevens from 2024: Lucas Peltier / Imagn Images)