NBA’s best headed to Vegas for Summer League

The NBA Summer League doesn’t want to mess with a good thing in Las Vegas.

After coming up with a new formula two years ago which included a tournament element, the same format will remain in place when this year’s summer league tips off July 10 at the Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion. The championship game will be held on July 20 and will be nationally televised.

The Sacramento Kings will look to defend their summer league title and there won’t be any additional competition as the NBA decided to not expand beyond the 24 teams.

“We couldn’t be happier with the format for one reason — the summer matters,” said Warren LeGarie, the agent who oversees the summer league in Las Vegas for the NBA. “These teams are trying to win. And as a result, the quality of play has really improved, particularly on the final weekend.”

All four of this year’s conference finalists — Atlanta, Cleveland, Golden State and Houston — will field teams in Las Vegas and will be joined by 10 other teams which made the playoffs this year. Returning to the summer league will be the Boston Celtics and the Brooklyn Nets. The Celtics were last in Las Vegas in 2012 while the Nets haven’t been in the summer league since 2005. They replace the Los Angeles Clippers and the Charlotte Hornets, both who opted to participate in the NBA Summer League in Orlando, Fla.

“People forget the Celtics are charter members of the summer league,” LeGarie said, referring to the inaugural year of 2004. “They have a huge national fan base and they have an exciting young team. We’re thrilled to have them back.”

LeGarie said while it may be tempting to expand beyond 24 teams in Las Vegas, he said that number is perfect for the current format.

“My fear is that if we went beyond 24, we’d be hurting the quality of play and we don’t want to do that,” he said. “And for the tournament portion of summer league, 24 is he ideal number.”

LeGarie said the return of the D-League Select team at the expense of an established NBA tam is something the summer league believes is worth doing.

“The D-League team represents what the summer league is all about — chasing hopes and dreams,” LeGarie said. “They’ve done very well and I can’t see us not having them with us every year.”

Tickets for the summer league will go on sale June 1 through NBATickets.com or by calling 702-739-FANS. LeGarie expects the ticket prices to remain the same as in the past — $25 for adults and $15 for children with admission good for all games that day in both the Thomas & Mack and Cox Pavilion.

“This is a fans’ event and we don’t want to lose sight of that,” he said. “We must keep it affordable.”

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj