NBA Las Vegas Summer League keeps evolving into milestone 20th anniversary

By Katie Ann McCarver (contact)

Friday, July 12, 2024 | 2 a.m.

The NBA’s Las Vegas Summer League kicked off in 2004 with just six teams as a way to keep growing the league and the brand during its offseason.

Southern Nevada was a natural epicenter for the event with the proper medical and training facilities, direct flights from everywhere and a slew of entertainment and restaurant options according to Albert Hall, co-founder of the NBA Summer League.

“Just the amenities of doing business in Las Vegas, people were open and receptive to it,” Hall said. “Not at first. We had to educate everybody that it was real basketball — real NBA. But once we did that, then we saw some of the hotel properties get involved, some of the restaurants. The bus and shuttle companies all saw, ‘Hey, this is good business for us.’”

Twenty years later, the Las Vegas Summer League has now grown to include all of the NBA’s 30 franchises, each of which will bring a team of up-and-coming players starting this weekend at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion.

The 76-game competition begins today and runs almost constantly through July 21, before a championship finale at 6 p.m. July 22.

The tournament has grown in a variety of ways, not only as a sporting event but also for Las Vegas’ business, entertainment and hospitality sectors.

Nearly every league executive, coach and power-player now travels to Summer League to not only take in the games but also network and meet with each other.

During a tour Thursday of the Thomas & Mack Center before the games began, Hall showed off a dedicated space where meetings will take place between franchise owners and constituents. Sports Business Classroom students from across the country are invited for the opportunity to get hands-on experience in the industry.

Summer League is now a giant media production too with all games televised on either ESPN’s family of networks or NBATV. ESPN also has multiple sets where it will broadcast shows from the event.

“First and foremost it’s grown from a basketball standpoint,” Hall said in the sleek Michelob Ultra courtside lounge at the arena, where last-minute preparations for the tournament were still under way. “We’re never going to lose sight of basketball. That’s our main product is developing the players on the court, developing the coaches — developing the front-office personnel.”

There’s a lot new for fans to look forward to this season from a long list of promising new rookies to a schedule carefully curated to offer intriguing matchups.   

Other activities will be available including interactive games on the concourse and a unique sound experience.

Summer League has annually tried to stay on the cutting edge and innovate its offerings.

The festivities actually began Thursday night with the Hennessy Creator Cup, a game that pitted the most popular basketball content creators on the court.  

Another special event in the works is a tribute to Jerry West, the NBA icon who recently passed away. Hall called West “the soul of  Summer League.”

“Jerry was special to Summer League from Day One,” Hall said. “He never missed a Summer League. He knew that it was important for him to be here and the value of it for young players. So we want to pay tribute to Jerry because he definitely helped us get our footing doing what we do now. So, that's kind of cool.”

The Thomas & Mack is typically crawling with current and former NBA players fielding autograph and selfie requests with young fans. This year, some of the players will have their own merchandise stands in addition to the bigger pop-ups for Summer League gear.

“The Brotherhood Deli” is a storefront that will carry NBA player-brand merchandise — not cold cuts, in spite of its name and appearance. This year, a sneaker lab and dedicated autograph stage are also stationed in the halls, where it’s hard to miss pictures of players from past Summer Leagues on the wall.

Many of them are now NBA icons or stars themselves.

“They come back to visit Summer League,” Hall said. “They come back and meet their new teammates, meet the owners, meet their coaches. And they like being back because we always want them — we welcome them with open arms. It's like, ‘Hey, this is where you got your start.’ And it's always an opportunity to come home.”

The Thomas & Mack Center’s Strip View Pavilion has been partially converted into a TV studio. It’s where ESPN is slated to broadcast an announcement today regarding the upcoming second NBA In-Season Tournament, which culminates with the semifinals and championship in Las Vegas.

This year’s version is being rebranded as the Emirates NBA Cup as the event continues to grow.

The tournament will be on a good path if it follows the Summer League’s trajectory. Now more than two decades in, Hall and his team are still finding ways to evolve.   

“We started with six teams, and started to put together an event that could showcase the NBA in Las Vegas, but also something that may grow for the future,” Hall said Thursday at the Thomas & Mack Center  where screens flashed the number "20" to mark the milestone anniversary. “It was just one of those things, like, the timing was right.”