Relive Some Of The NBA's Best Summer League Moments
With today officially marking the return of basketball (yes Summer League counts!) with the Utah and Sacramento Summer Leagues opening tonight, what better time to relive some of the best moments of past Summer Leagues. As a reminder here are the matchups that we get tonight, all on NBATV
Hawks vs Grizzlies – 7pm
Heat vs Warriors – 9pm
Spurs vs Jazz – 9pm
Lakers vs Kings – 11pm
I for one cannot wait to have basketball back in my life, as it has felt like decades since the confetti dropped in CLE to conclude the 2018 season. As a reminder everything positive you will see tonight and throughout the summer in regards to your favorite team will absolutely translate to the regular season, and anything bad you can ignore because in the end we’re talking about a glorified pick up game. Those are the rules that I want to make sure everyone is aware of going in. What I love about Summer League is the immediate hot takes that come after we see rookies and fringe NBA players hit the court for the first time. You can convince me of anything at this time of year when it comes to whether or not a player will be a bust or succeed, and that limitless potential is all part of the fun. Now, since you’re definitely looking to kill some time, let’s roll through the highlights
Best Crossovers
Had to start us off with some quality crossovers. By far my favorite moment in a basketball game is watching someone get crossed the hell up, and this video sure has a lot of great ones to choose from, even the one where Mitchell murdered Jayson Tatum. I especially like the one at around the 1:23 mark, as well as the one by Glenn Robinson III.
Best Dunks
Obviously we need to follow up the best crossovers with the best dunks. This is an area that I really love about Summer League, because it’s filled with super athletic guys that may not be able to play in the NBA, but boy can they throw it down. It also gives us a look at second year guys that worked on their body and are now a force, like with that Jaylen dunk. My early favorite is probably John Collins at the 1:05 mark, or the Shannon Brown one at about 1:50. That dude could really fly. The most surprising dunk is probably the Shabazz Napier one, and if there’s one thing we can be certain about it’s that this year’s crop of talent is sure to make some additions to this list. That’s the beauty of Summer League in my opinion, you combine freak athletes with average at best defense, and we all benefit.
Best Clutch Shots
I don’t want to hear that Summer League doesn’t matter OK. It still gives us thrilling moments and buzzer beating shots and how could you not love that. As far as I(‘m concerned a game winning shot in Summer League may as well be Game 7 of the NBA Finals and you cannot convince me otherwise. I mean tell me that Tyler Ulis make wasn’t awesome. You can’t.
If you can’t enjoy some game winning shots no matter the level of competition, you have a giant dump in your pants.
My advice to you would be do not let the haters, of which there will be many, try and take away your joy that actual basketball is returning today. The start of Summer League means we’re that much closer to training camp which means we’re that much closer to the highly anticipated 2018-19 NBA season. I cannot recommend heading to either Utah, Sacramento, or Vegas this summer and catch these games live if you can, tickets are cheap and they are a lot of fun to go to. I was in Vegas last year and watching Tatum with my own eyes was something I’ll always remember. The Vegas league starts on Friday so you do have some time to find your way there if you’re on the fence about it, but I’m also excited for Hawks/Grizzlies tonight given the fact they were both high lottery teams. How many times will we be able to say that about these two teams once the seasons starts? Probably zero.
So enjoy the games tonight, and as always if there’s NBA basketball that means the daily Last Night In The NBA blog is coming back first thing tomorrow morning, so if you fall asleep and miss anything don’t worry I have you covered tomorrow.