Now that the California Classic has passed, the main event of the summer is here as all 30 NBA teams meet up in Las Vegas for the annual NBA Summer League Event. The Kings are bringing pretty much the same roster as they had for the Classic, but also bringing over second year big man Maxime Raynaud, who rejoins the team after spending the last week helping France in the World Cup qualifiers.
As Summer League has gotten bigger, the good news is that almost every single game is now televised. As a reminder, every team has four games scheduled before it moves into an elimination bracket, with all teams guaranteed to play at least a fifth game. The top four teams advanced to a single elimination bracket with the winners playing a sixth and final championship game. Here’s what the Kings current schedule looks like:
- Thursday, July 9th vs. LA Clippers at 8:00 PM Pacific (Broadcast on both ESPN and NBC Sports CA) – Should be a fun matchup to start it off as Darius Acuff will go up against #5 pick Keaton Wagler and the Clippers
- Sunday, July 12th vs. Washington Wizards at 5:00 PM Pacific (Broadcast on Prime and NBC Sports CA) – The Kings get a first look at #1 pick AJ Dybantsa.
- Tuesday, July 14th vs. Brooklyn Nets at 3:00 PM Pacific (Broadcast on Prime and NBC Sports CA) – A rematch against the Nets, this time hopefully with Mikel Brown Jr. playing.
- Wednesday, July 15th vs. Boston Celtics at 5:00 PM Pacific (Broadcast on ESPN2 and NBC Sports CA) – A look at the guy the Celtics wouldn’t include in the Giannis trade talks, second-year guard Hugo Gonzales
The consolation bracket games will take place from July 17th-19th, with the semifinals and championship game happening on July 18th and 19th. This will be our last look at live basketball for a few months so enjoy it while you can!
I didn’t see the last game, but looking for Acuff to be more efficient, to maintain his dribble against pressure, and to set guys up however much you can in the “weekend gym game” chaos that is summer league.
It would be nice to see Sharp be more efficient as well, but I don’t get overly enamored with second round picks in summer league,
I don’t care about his efficiency just yet, I want to see Acuff keep probing for what works and what doesn’t. I don’t care if he gets blocked 6 times in the game, as long as he’s trying something different or something he previously tried that didn’t work but with a variation or tweak on the next attempt.
Find out what works for you DA!
No offense Akis, but, who cares about a summer league ring? I want (in a perfect world) to see a competitive playoff caliber Kings team. God willing I’ll see another one before I pass.
When you’re a Kings fan, you know the reality of the situation, which is:
The Kings are only ever good when it doesn’t matter. And two primary situations where it doesn’t matter are:
The Kings excel here, and so posts like this are sort of half-mocking, and half realistic.
But both things show the state of this embarrassment of a franchise, and our absolute desperation as fans to have something, anything, to look forward to.
(Nobody cares about a summer league ring but it’s fun to pretend they’re important when your team is as shitty as it has been)
No NBA team peaks faster than our Sacramento Kings!
Wieners chicken dinner
Quick corrections:
The game against Brooklyn is scheduled for Tuesday, July 14.
The game against Boston is scheduled for Wednesday, July 15.
Thank you, updated the post.
Kangz get the rangz! (only in Summer)
When Max joins the Summer League team, it would be nice to see him in a stretch 4/5 role to see what it looks like. Let him jack those 3s up.
For Nique, I want to see if he can carry more of an offensive role. Make teams cover him so that Acuff doesn’t get swarmed as often.
I want to see some Max & Cardwell lineups
Cardwell made a 7-foot jumper in the last summer game. I would like to see him play in all types of lineups by developing a 5-10 ft shot, somewhat like we see from Max. Nique hitting 35%+ from 3 this year and Karaban/Sharp becoming a 36%+ 3 pt shooter would really cool.
Off topic, but the Clips are now saying that they only make the Aspiration deal if the Raps take on the Aspiration liability. The NBA has now put that trade on hold.
But hey, tanking is fixed!
What a shitshow.
That report brought to you by Draftkings, the crown is yours.
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