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The Quirky, Novel Joy of NBA Summer League
The NBA’s annual trek to Vegas is a weird throwback filled with endless optimism and hope
It’s July. Which means that the NBA world is making its annual pilgrimage to Las Vegas at the Thomas & Mack Center for the Summer League. This time of year is best described as a recovery period for the league. In the span of a couple of months, we had the playoffs, the NBA Draft, and NBA free agency. The Summer League is the final course of the NBA calendar meal before the next season begins in the fall.
Watching Summer League basketball is a unique experience. It’s a world where winning doesn’t matter, and efficiency is nice to have but not essential. An activity of watching your favorite team, with a roster with only a couple of names that you recognize and a bunch of players trying to put something on tape for their next opportunity. On some level, it shouldn’t even be televised. But if you’re a basketball junkie like me, it is wildly fascinating, requiring a different eye that is perpetually laser-focused on the future.
In the Eye of the Beholder
