As some of the glow starts to diminish from the NBA finals and now the draft and free agency as well, it’s time to start thinking about basketball games again. Fortunately, we don’t have to wait long as it should be a busy summer on that front.
The Olympics are fast approaching and qualifying games are already being played. Former (and likely again future) Nugget Vlatko Cancar has looked good for Slovenia fresh off his ACL injury and Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray will be in action soon for Team Serbia and Canada respectively.
Big summer ahead for young Nuggets
But we’ll also get a look at the future of the Nuggets as many of their young players will take part in the Las Vegas Summer League later this month. The roster hasn’t been finalized, but you’d imagine we’ll see recent draft pick DaRon Holmes II, recent two-way and exhibit-10 signings Trey Alexander, Jaylin Williams, PJ Hall, and Jahmyr Young, and hopefully some combination of Julian Strawther, Jalen Pickett, and Hunter Tyson.
The Nuggets will likely need to rely on at least a few of those guys to step up and plug holes in the rotation this season so it will be great to get a look at them in Summer League and see who jumps off the screen. The schedule of games is as follows.
Summer League schedule and how to watch
Game 1: Friday, July 12th: Nuggets at Clippers 8 PM MDT - NBATV
Game 2: Sunday, July 14th: Nugget at Raptors 7:30 PM MDT - NBATV
Game 3: Tuesday, July 16th: Nuggets vs. Hornets 4 PM MDT - ESPN2
Game 4: Thursday, July 18th: Nuggets vs. Pacers 2:30 PM MDT - ESPN2
The first three games will be played at Cox Pavillion while the final game will be played across the street at the Thomas and Mack Center. There will be a championship game at the end for teams with the best record and point differential.
But this is far more about the process than the results. The Nuggets are relying on many of the players in this tournament for major contributions this upcoming season. After a slow and somewhat disappointing offseason transaction-wise, it would restore some faith in the franchise to see some of these young players really shine. Hopefully, that’s the case and we see it carry over to the regular season.