By Alan Snel
LVSportsBiz.com
It began with Zion-mania filling Thomas & Mack Center July 5 when an earthquake put an end to the night’s basketball action and it ended Monday evening with a smaller crowd watching the finale of the 15th NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.
Las Vegas Summer League co-founders Warren LeGarie, the league’s executive director, and Albert Hall pulled off their annual July pro hoops bash at Thomas & Mack and Cox Pavilion, with the event selling out the first two days July 5 and 6.
“We were at the epicenter of social media,” LeGarie told LVSportsBiz.com after the Memphis Grizzlies defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves, 95-92, to score the Summer League trophy. “I couldn’t be happier.”
LeGarie said the average attendance per day for the 11-day Summer League was more than 12,000. Monday’s attendance was 8,079, bringing the 11-day total attendance to 134,188 — or an average of 12,199 per day thanks to the 17,500 sellouts on Days 1 and 2. Last year’s July 6-16 Summer League in Las Vegas had attendance of 139,972.
After the final game Monday, LeGarie told LVSportsBiz.com that the Summer League for 2020 would start July 10 or possibly later after that date.
The NBA property, which attracts everyone from Commissioner Adam Silver schmoozing with Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak to NBA superstars/ex-NBA big names LeBron James, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, markets itself by offering as an affordable $35 daily ticket to see the NBA stars of tomorrow.
Over the past 11 days, however, there was much media chatter about former Duke players — number one overall draft selection Williamson of the New Orleans Pelicans being too fat and out of shape; New York Knicks’ RJ Barrett not performing to number three overall draft pick standards; and the Memphis Grizzlies’ Grayson Allen acting like a childish goon for his vicious fouls that caused his ejection in one of the Memphis games.
The Summer League’s charm is its ability to draw both celebrity hoopsters like the Bryants and O’Neals while also luring hard-core basketball rats from Southern California for day trips to Las Vegas and roundball fans from around the country who spend a week in Las Vegas following their favorite NBA clubs.
There will be some diamonds unearthed among the G League and undrafted Summer League players chasing their dreams of playing in the big leagues of basketball. A few will advance to the big teams — others will be cut. The Grizzlies’ Brandon Clarke won the Las Vegas Summer League and title game MVP awards.
The informal NBA atmosphere, the affordable $8 chicken tenders and french fries and the offbeat halftime shows like a baby race that involved crawling toddlers on the Thomas & Mack hardwood made for some entertaining hoops.
UNLV basketball fans saw a former star Runnin’ Rebels center — Brandon McCoy — dressed in the NBA Summer League uni of the Minnesota Timberwolves Monday night for the 6 p.m. game. McCoy did not see game action Monday, though.
The Summer League brings in other basketball-related events, such as NBA Alumni sessions to a sports business program.
And the technology experiments like the first NBA broadcast via only cellphones.
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