Mark your calendars for July 12-22!
On Friday, the NBA announced the dates for the 2024 Summer League in Las Vegas. They will be from July 12-22. The NBA has also had additional leagues in Orlando and Salt Lake City, but they were not mentioned in the post.
NBA Summer League is set to take place July 12-22 in Las Vegas. pic.twitter.com/pUBp6yztOq
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) February 9, 2024
For any NBA team, the Summer League is a place where new draft picks and other prospects, often from the G League affiliate, can play competitive games. For the Washington Wizards, this time will be more important than most.
Washington is currently the second worst team in the Eastern Conference and has been out of the playoff race since Bradley Beal was traded to the Phoenix Suns last summer. Therefore, their draft picks should have more time to play in regular season games (unfortunately, they often haven’t). So that makes Summer League an even MORE important event for the Wizards.
Barring future trades, the Wizards will have at least two first round picks in the 2024 Draft, which includes a newly acquired pick from the Daniel Gafford trade earlier this week. And this year’s Summer League team could include all of Washington’s first round picks over the last four years: The two 2024 picks, Bilal Coulibaly (2023), Johnny Davis (2022), and Corey Kispert (2021). Even if Kispert sits this summer out, the Wizards could still have four first round picks on the team in July.
If the Wizards have a squad with that many first round picks, it should be an expectation that their Summer League perform better than most. While most NBA teams go through the motions with Summer League basketball, it’s important to let the players on the Summer League team have a chance to win some games. It’s safe to say that there won’t be many wins in the 2024-25 season, just like this one.