One of my personal highlights during the slow July sports calendar is the NBA’s Las Vegas Summer League, which has grown from a niche event to a spectacle and tips off today with seven games — clearly topped by Utah vs. Washington, which I will get to shortly. You certainly could not wager on games or title futures in early iterations of the Summer League, but now it’s the showcase event of the offseason. And it’s where the groundwork will be laid for more potential blockbuster trades down the line, with front-office types from all teams in Vegas.
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You might be remembering some Summer League highlights earlier this week on one of your favorite CBS Sports platforms, but that was the Salt Lake Summer League (there was another one called the California Classic) and featured only four clubs: Utah, Memphis, Oklahoma City and Atlanta. To no major surprise, the host Jazz won that with a 3-0 round-robin record.
One highlight of the event was seeing Jazz No. 2 overall rookie Darryn Peterson and Grizzlies No. 3 overall rookie Cameron Boozer facing off. That happened Monday, with Peterson posting a dominant 25-point, 12-assist double-double, while Boozer finished with 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
Both those guys looked great in Salt Lake City overall — Peterson averaged 26.5 points and 7.0 assists in two games while hearing “MVP” chants from the home crowd — but they really should look great against weak competition. And primarily that’s what the full-league Las Vegas Summer League is about: A first look at the rookies, some run for second-year guys and then it’s a bunch of guys who likely never sniff the NBA or are playing near the end of the bench.
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Some top rookies will only play a game or two. For example, last year’s No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg, the eventual NBA Rookie of the Year, played in two games for Dallas. Teams want to placate their fans and see a little bit how their young players fare against other professionals and then sit them down to avoid risk of injury.
My best advice for any NBA game, but especially in Summer League, is to wait for lineups, but I shall be wagering and perhaps even including some matchups as part of my SportsLine newsletter parlay. This year marks the 21st NBA Summer League in Las Vegas and eighth in a row where all 30 teams will participate.
This event runs through July 19, and each team plays at least five games. After each club’s fourth, the top four in the standings advance to the semifinals. The 26 teams that didn’t advance then get a fifth game, however that’s scheduled. Regular-season quarters are 12 minutes, and these are 10. Three Summer League MVPs have gone on to become NBA All-Stars: Blake Griffin, John Wall and Damian Lillard.
It hardly matters which team is the defending champion in Las Vegas, but it’s Charlotte and we got an idea last year how good Hornets rookie Kon Knueppel would be, as he was MVP of the championship game win over Sacramento. Charlotte is +1600 to repeat, and its roster is likely highlighted by first-round rookies Hannes Steinbach and Christian Anderson as well as second-year guys Sion James and Ryan Kalkbrenner.
But Utah (+800) and Memphis (+900) are the event favorites, and that’s not a surprise with how good Peterson and Boozer looked and that both clubs have games under their belts. The question I have is how many more games will the Jazz allow Peterson to play considering all his health issues at Kansas?
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But I promise he will be out there in tonight’s marquee opening matchup against Washington and No. 1 overall pick AJ Dybantsa. It’s a 9 ET tip on ESPN with the Jazz at -1.5. Peterson is set at Over/Under 24.5 points and Dybantsa 19.5.
Dybantsa starred last season at BYU and is from the Beehive State, so the Jazz badly wanted him but could not lure the Wizards with any trade offers to move up one spot from No. 2 to No. 1. Many scouts had Peterson rated highest in the class. Fifteen players have played at Summer League before winning the NBA Rookie of the Year Award.
I wouldn’t go betting on Washington to win the tournament at +1600, though, because I’m sure Dybantsa, who will become the 17th No. 1 overall pick to play at Summer League before his rookie season, is limited to a couple of games and the rest of the roster is quite anonymous.
For whatever reason, the Kings seem to always do well in Summer League (two titles, last year’s runners-up) and are +1000 third favorites. Also tonight, a look at my early NBA Rookie of the Year value pick in Sacramento guard Darius Acuff Jr. (No. 7 overall pick) against the LA Clippers and their touted rookie guard in Keaton Wagler (No. 5 overall pick). That’s the last game on the slate at 11 ET, with the Kings at -3.5. You won’t see big spreads.
