NBA Summer League (July 5th – July 21st): While we’re on the subject of the draft, we’re just going to skip ahead to this. Normally, this is an event reserved for true basketball junkies, but this year may be as good as any for a casual fan to dip their toes into what is essentially NBA Summer Camp.
Just days after the draft, a handful of teams will participate in the Orlando Summer League (July 5th – 11th), a closed-gym affair that is — to be perfectly honest — actually kind of boring to watch. The same can’t be said for Las Vegas (July 11th – 21st), which will feature a record 24 teams this year. Of course, adding to the intrigue is the new batch of rookies, many of whom will be playing in the desert, as many teams with high lottery picks — Cleveland, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Utah, Los Angeles Lakers — are scheduled to participate.
For those of you with vacation days to burn — and don’t mind 110 degree heat on the Strip — it’s not a bad way to satiate your basketball needs (even if it’s essentially the NBA’s version of rec ball). The games are open to the public, and are played in Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion at UNLV. Admission is only $25 (per day), and grants you access to every game. There are are up to eight games a day, with staggered starts, meaning it’s easy to catch at least half of every game. In addition to the rookies, you’ll catch yourself saying “hey, it’s that guy” no less than 20 times over the course of a few days, as a plethora of journeymen (aka, the Coby Karl All-Stars) try to score fall camp tryouts.
