Look, I own my obsessive nature as a sports-of-all-sorts zealot. Arguably, I pay far more attention to the NBA Summer League than any white man who can’t run, let alone jump.
But I know that there are an awful lot of hoopheads who look forward to these early days of July as a de facto exhibition season, despite the fact that the Summer League rosters are comprised heavily of what my school called the “soph-frosh”–first and second-year players who are both making their debuts in the uniform (or, at least, the summer iteration) of the team that drafted them mere days ago as well as those who barely played competitive minutes in the league during the interminable season that ended mere hours before that. It’s the ultimate test of rooting for the laundry, such as it is given it’s not the premium material that’s used during the main event.
In younger days for both me and the Summer League, I actually went out to games that were played on the campus of Long Beach State. The crowds were sparse, the atmosphere casual and the price next to nothing. But over time, and with ESPN in particular needing live content during a time of year where colleges were dark and that even MLB would take the week off for All-Star festivities they migrated to Las Vegas, where the allure of multiple arenas and a true destination turned it from a casual gathering of a few regional squads into a must-attend coming out party where every NBA team fields a squad. That means that beginning Thursday it will be nonstop hoops morning, noon, and night, enough to fill schedules of multiple ESPN channels not to mention NBA TV.
And if that isn’t enough, we now get a head start literally as fireworks are being doused. In both Salt Lake City and San Francisco, the kinds of regional gatherings that the Las Vegas league, as well as the now-defunct Orlando tournament, used to be. If you visit the NBA.com website, you’ll see a write-up today that long-suffering Jazz fans don’t often see when it’s cold out. Per ROTOWIRE’s JP Aravena:
The Utah Jazz defeated the Memphis Grizzlies, 112-111, at Jon M. Huntsman Center in the 2025 Salt Lake City Summer League on Monday.
The Jazz and Grizzlies played a back-and-forth contest that wasn’t decided until the very last play. Memphis enjoyed a stronger start, leading 35-21 at the end of the opening quarter. The Jazz showed signs of being a team ready to fight following a 30-22 second-quarter score. The Grizzlies kept things close in the third quarter, but it wouldn’t be until the fourth and final period that Utah would complete the comeback. Thanks to a 15-3 run to open the final frame, the Jazz would grab the lead and never look back. The victory allowed Utah to move to 2-0 in the Summer League, while the Grizzlies fell to 1-1.
The fifth overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, Ace Bailey, notched 18 points for Utah, the same tally as Cody Williams. Each of the starters scored in double digits for the Jazz, but the biggest star — and best player in the game — was none other than Brice Sensabaugh. Sensabaugh went 9-for-14 from the floor en route to a 37-point effort that also saw him go 13-for-14 from the stripe.
I suppose when your team goes 18-64 and still doesn’t get a top five draft pick you take whatever dribs and dabs of positivity you can glom onto.
Meanwhile, I’m paying slightly more attention to San Francisco, where my de facto fave Miami Heat (again, I own my obsessions) are looking for something resembling a ray of hope after a disheartening season where they fell like a thud vs. prior year to an inglorious first round sweep at the hands of Cleveland. And even CLUTCH POINTS’ Zachary Weinberger (full disclosure: one of the better fantasy players in my CBS Sports baseball league) was muted in his optimism that was dropped yesterday:
After back-to-back rough outings for Miami Heat rookie Kasparas Jakucionis in the Summer League to start, there is still a lot to improve on and learn, and the 20th overall pick already has goals in what he should limit. Though Jakucionis has already gotten advice from fellow Heat young star Kel’el Ware, Summer League head coach Eric Glass speaks on what the staff is telling the 19-year-old.
Through two games on Saturday and Sunday, Jakucionis has totaled seven points on making just one field goal out of 10 attempts, missing all seven of his three-point opportunities, and also has eight turnovers, five of them in the latter game. As Glass would mention, the entire team had a problem in that department, finishing with 24 turnovers, but would mention that the task will be to ‘coach up’ Jakucionis as there is a “learning curve,” according to The Miami Herald.
“That’s a major emphasis for everybody,” Glass said. “We’ll continue to watch film with him and coach him up. There’s a learning curve for him and we’ll help him with that process so we can get those turnovers down.”
So I am paying attention, if only for the distraction. But apparently, those that I would otherwise expect would be right there with me are getting a little too old for this–which considering I’ve got a few years on them both is especially distressing. Both Bill Simmons and Ryen Russillo, who devote a couple of intense hours every Sunday to everything NBA once football season ends, admitted on Monday’s episode that they are simply too burned out and overwhelmed to make the trek to Vegas this year. I can’t say I blame them, given the timeline of events I’ve already outlined. They also noted that increased ticket (and merch) prices and global warming haven’t made the experience any more inviting a proposition. That’s also true of MLB spring training, to be sure. But at least there you’ve got the actual stars at least taking the field for a couple of innings. The star sightings in Vegas will strictly be courtside where the recently traded or signed will do courtesy interviews that in classic ESPN style will overshadow the game coverage itself.
But looking ahead–will the need be as pronounced? The WNBA will be eventually expanding to a total of 18 teams, assuring more and more games available live both for ESPN and NBA TV–assuming the latter even continues to exist in the wake of Turner’s announced October 1 divorce from its management. Next summer we’ve got World Cup soccer and potentially a larger AUSL (yes, even for what is now NBA TV–because who knows what cheap programming Turner might add to prop up the remnants of TNT Sports by then?).
So do keep your eyes on the crowds if you do tune in at all. Sure, any game not featuring Cooper Flagg or Bronny James will be an afterthought. But if the likes of Simmons and Russillo can’t be lured into 113 degrees to just hop into an Uber to navigate between arenas in downtown Las Vegas, it’s might be a harbinger that a 30-team junket after a long weekend of these preliminary conclaves may just have run its course.
I’ll be watching, because I’m a bit more obsessive than most. I just get this sense I’m now more of an outlier than ever.
Courage…