Today in Las Vegas, the NBA will tip-off its Summer League tournament for the first time since 2019. To the dismay of many Kings fans, we never got the opportunity to see rookie phenom Tyrese Haliburton in any sort of landscape pre-NBA, but this year’s draft pool shows promise and what could be an exciting lead on the way to a victory in Vegas.

All thirty NBA teams will be participating, allowing for the association to get its eyes on what has been hyped up to be an extraordinary draft class despite there not being one player who was deemed ‘creme de la creme’ (even though it was #Tank4Cade season across the bottom half of the league). Sacramento will play a total of five games and, per the NBA, “the top two teams from their first four games will play in the championship game” on August 17.

Sacramento will kick off their Summer League with a back-to-back on August 9 vs. the Charlotte Hornets followed by an August 10 matchup with the Washington Wizards.

August 13 will be game number three vs. the Memphis Grizzlies followed by an August 15 game vs. the Dallas Mavericks. Game 5 will be determined by tournament seeding, should the team rank in the top two they will play for the coveted Summer League trophy.

While these “friendlies” are really just a chance for us to watch the standout rookies and sophomores of the last few months, the hype around Sacramento’s success heading into the tournament could have very real ramifications approaching the season. Look out for No. 9 overall draft pick Davion Mitchell and No. 39 Neemias Queta to make big moves for the Kings.

Also, we have an Antetokounmpo on the roster: how could we not have a good run?