No organization has won the Las Vegas Summer League Championship 3x, but the Sacramento Kings have an opportunity to change that, tonight! Watch the Kings vs. Hornets at 7:00 PM PT / 10:00 PM ET on ESPN to find out if Devin Carter, Nique Clifford, Maxime Reynaud, and Isaac Jones can finish the job.
In all seriousness, this has been a fun squad to watch through 5 (5-0!) games and I’m rooting for them to win it all. Again. Go Kings.
Hey, its the only championship I’ll likely see them get.
Go Kings.
We’ll take what we can get.
Seriously considering changing my Fandom from the NBA Kings to the Summer League Kings.
I intend on moving to that hell hole of a city and buying season passes to Summer League. Gotta get in on the ground floor of this investment opportunity.
Oh, are you actually planning on relocating to Vegas at some point?
Or did I miss the chasm?
No, but my dad has lived there for 35 years. I spent countless summers and vacations visiting and working for him there. My apologies to anyone who lives there, but I see it as nothing but asphalt, strip malls, service industry and depravity. I feel most folks go there to vacation and have a fun weekend, which is fine, but once you leave the main tourist areas and visit places like West Las Vegas or Charleston Heights, you may want to reconsider your choices in life. IMO, Vegas has no good reason to exist, which is also why I don’t want to see the NBA expand there.
I haven’t been to Vegas since around 2004, and I’ve never been out of the Strip. But thanks for the insights on outside of the touristy spots!
Hopefully Seattle will be getting their expansion team before Vegas.
Vegas is just Northeast L.A.
Summerlin is nice.
Agree with this take. Best friend moved there and worked there for 10 years, and I would go visit often. Spent a summer there once. There is nothing in that town outside of the evil casino industry. The whole city is built to part you from your money and the a large portion of the people who live there are largely jaded and miserable (in my experience.)
In thinking about it… I can now see why the Kings thrive there! I think there is some kind of misery cosmic connection that gives them an edge in Vegas.
Ironic that the Kings can do well in summer league but suck badly in regular season (except for early 2000’s).
Franchise is good at winning championships . G-League, Summer League and WNBA just not Kings .
WTF is this lol. Thanks Gemini
If this doesn’t summarize the internet, A.I., and the overall modern tech gestalt, than my ability to be a cynic is in question. Why have reality when we can have Gemini?
And on the anniversary of a great conspiracy conundrum: The Moon Landing 20 July 1969 (Capricorn One, we hear ya)
Three Rang Kangz..LFG!
So is CHA going to get away with offensive fouls all night? That’s two so far.
Looking very rough to start this game. There is no attempt to run the quick-pass-and-move offense we’ve seen so far and defensively, its open threes for everyone.
This is giving Kings regular season lost on both ends vibes.
Carter blowing threes like Fox.
Kings are gonna keep up the defensive intensity and their shots are gonna fall. Kings win.
CHA has thrown a ton of elbows in this game. Banks III should be tossed for that.
The announcer wants it to be a flagrant one because CHA is already down players. Lol. Wow.
KRANGZ
First time watching G-leaguers. Both teams stankz
Devin Carter is not good.
He should have never attempted 9 threes. Half or more of those should have gone to Nique.
The Kings had a ton of opportunities to score, catch up, and take the lead after stops. A very disappointing and very Kangz loss. The three points shooting, especially by Carter, was beyond disappointing.
Was hoping Nique would take over the last few mins for the win, the opporunity was there but he was short on all his shots, ran out of gas.
Overall another encouraging showing by Nique, Max, and I. Jones.
DC looks like a bust. That slow wonky shot will never translate and he’s too short to really be a factor on D. Just dumb to take a short, not very athletic player over a physical specimen like Ware.
On to training camp…
I didn’t get to watch the game as it was on ESPN+ instead of ESPN. NBA and House of Highlights had posts, however.
For all his reputation of being a good defender, Devin Carter looked bad on D. It looked like he should’ve switched off ball at 7:51 1st Q and gone with the cutter at 11.4 4th Q. There were several other times he let his man float to a wide open position.
“not very athletic” is not supported by Carter’s 2024 NBA combine metrics …lack of height for an SG may be compensated by his wingspan (6th among all SGs and Gs at the combine) BUT your main point that Carter is not looking like a good pick, I agree with. Last year I was advocating for Ware … maybe that is fixed with Raynaud, maybe Clifford pans out and we find someone to take Carter.
Carter had good combine numbers, but he doesn’t look explosive on the court. Not a quick first step, trouble getting past his defender. Defensively, his athleticism pops a little more, he just has some laziness/lack of awareness off-ball.
I think there is a useful player there, just going to take a while and seems like he might need a mental adjustment for him to accept the type of player he needs to become in the NBA.
I know about DC’s metrics, and they’re good. But when you watch him play he doesn’t come off as athletic other than being able to jump high.
I don’t know how you can be 6-2, want an NBA career and not have spent the last 10 years working on your PG skills. What were the people around him telling him?
Maybe they told him that he may have a grow spurt at age 17?
Bridezmaidz.
2nd place was OK until you factor in this was the oldest and most experienced team in the hunt and that Isaac Jones was clearly the best and most valuable King .
5-1 in Summer League, and made it to the Finals, down by 1 with 20 seconds to play.
Nice Summer League showing, Kings. We got a nice eyeful of ‘Nique, Maxime, Devin, Mason and Isaac. They gave us something to look forward to come next season.
Charlotte’s Coach Chris Jent with his second Summer League coaching crown (the other was 2014 with the Ray McCallum (the Championship MVP) Kings). Is he the Phil Jackson or Red Auerbach of Vegas Summer League?)
I am going to make a wild ass prediction. Nique will be a more impactful NBA player than Kon Knupple
Odds are that you wild ass is full of shit.
Offseason move!!! 😉
That’s a title contending move right there!!!!!!!
I am glad to see Dougie McBuckets returning: I was at that game when he hit 6 3 pointers in no time, and he has played hard and well, if defensively inadequately, in his game time with the Kings. The effort is always there. As an end of the bench guy, you could do worse.
Is he one-dimensional? Yes – but that dude can really shoot the rock. Is he better than Dalton Knecht? I am sure many will disagree – but, truly, I don’t really know that the young Laker is any better. Is he better than Buddy Hield? Again, it’s an argument. I think he makes less mistakes than those two, but he also contributes in other areas less.
My biggest question: would I rather see Mason Jones? Maybe. And he would likely cost less than on the veteran minimum scale, but he is a one year deal and Mason Jones would be 2 or 3 year deal, I am guessing. Mason Jones can’t shoot like McDermott.
Ok- I’ll stop rambling now. It’s Summer banter, you know.
Badge Legend