Two years ago, the Thomas & Mack Center of Las Vegas filled quickly and quickly for the highly anticipated beginnings of the NBA Summer of Victor Wembanyama with the San Antonio Spurs.
There should be a similar buzz and an equally solid participation rate, when the first choice of global draft Cooper Flagg and the Dallas Mavericks face Bronny James and the Los Angeles Lakers in a television summer league match at the national level on the 18,000 -seat site on the UNLV campus.
Ryan Nembhard and Nolan Hickman from Gonzaga will have seats at the first row line of the main event of the summer league calendar this year, accompanying Flagg on the Dallas list this week and the next in Las Vegas.
Nembhard, who signed a bidirectional contract with the Mavericks, and Hickman, who recently accepted an invitation from the Mavericks while they were filling their summer league list, are two of the 10 former Gonzaga players in competition in Vegas.
The group includes everyone, from the leader of all time of the school, to a former striker to come to come on his seventh professional season, to three ex-Zags who spent only one season in the program of Mark Few before or after the stops in other colleges.
The summer championship matches in Vegas start on Thursday and take place until July 20, with consolation, semi-final and championship matches which take place on July 18, 19 and 20.
Including Nembhard and Hickman, four players in the alignment of Gu in 2025-26 who won the title of the conference tournament of the west coast, extended the sequence of the school’s NCAA tournament and almost triggered a upheaval from Houston to head.
Another member of the rear area of Gui departure, Khalif Battle, will be present after taking an invitation from the Phoenix Suns, who open at 6 p.m. Wednesday against Washington Wizards on ESPN2.
Ben Gregg, who recently signed a professional contract with Sig Strasbourg of France LNB Elite, will pass a summer league with the Boston Celtics, who open Friday against the former striker Gu Jeremy Jones and the Memphis Grizzlies at 1 p.m. on NBA TV.
The alignment of the Memphis Summer League also includes two players from Washington’s state, including Cedric Coward, choice n ° 11 of the NBA 2025 draft, and Jaylen Wells, a selection of the NBA All-Rookie last season. The team listed Coward as a “doubtful” to play for the summer league while the former WSU and Eastern Washington Wing continues to recover from the shoulder injury that put it aside for the last 28 games of the cougars season.
Drew Timme and Anton Watson return to the Summer League, although with different teams from those they played for last July. Timme, who signed a multi -year agreement with the Brooklyn Nets in March, joined the organization in Vegas.
Watson, his former college and roommate area, will compete in the New York Knicks, who acquired the striker on March 4, two days after being canceled by the Boston Celtics.
Timme and Brooklyn will face Oklahoma City at 2:30 p.m. in an opening match of the summer league which will be broadcast on ESPN2 while Watson and New York will open the next day against the Detroit Pistons at 3 p.m. on NBA TV.
The former guest teammates could be seen on Tuesday, when the nets face the knicks at 3 p.m. in a match that will be a television on ESPN2.
Hunter Sallis, former goalkeeper Gu, who played two seasons in Spokane before transferring to Wake Forest with his Zags teammate, Efton Reid, signed a bogus contract with the Philadelphia 76ers and will do his debut at the Vegas Summer League on Thursday against the San Antonio Spurs on ESPN.
Reid teams up with Jones, Coward and Wells on the alignment of the Memphis Summer League while another former big man from Zags, Oumar Ballo, is in competition with Miami Heat.
The MT. Spokane High Product Tyson Degenhart, a selection of Mountain West several times in Boisse State, begins his NBA career with the Raptors of Toronto on a contract of play 10.
Degenhart and the Raptors Open Summer League at 5 p.m. Friday against the Chicago Bulls on NBA TV.
