The Golden State Warriors and Atlanta Hawks, who both earned the top playoff seeds in their respective conferences with the best regular seasons in franchise history, headline the list of 24 teams set to compete in the NBA Summer League from July 10-20.
The games will be played at the Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion on the University of Nevada Las Vegas campus.
Last summer marked the event’s 10th anniversary and saw the Sacramento Kings defeat the Houston Rockets in the championship game.
This summer’s event will again feature the tournament-style format first debuted in 2013 that will crown the champion on Monday, July 20.
This year’s event will feature 14 playoff teams from the 2014-15 NBA season — including all four conference finalists in Golden State, Atlanta, Houston and the Cleveland Cavaliers — and top picks from the 2015 NBA Draft, which will be held on Thursday, June 25.
Nine teams entered in the 2015 NBA Draft Lottery, which is set for Tuesday, will appear in the summer league.
The Warriors won the inaugural NBA Summer League championship in 2013 with a roster that included Draymond Green, a starting forward on this season’s 67-15 team and the runner-up in the voting for both the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award and the NBA Most Improved Player Award in 2014-15.
The Brooklyn Nets, who last competed in Las Vegas in 2005, and the Boston Celtics, who most recently appeared in 2012, join 21 returning NBA teams and an NBA Development League Select team this year.
The 24 teams will compete in three preliminary round games from July 10-14 before being seeded in a tournament running through the championship game. Each team is guaranteed to play at least five games.
The Summer League has a rich history of showcasing the NBA’s future stars. Stephen Curry of Golden State and Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder, the last two winners of the NBA Most Valuable Player Award, competed in Las Vegas before their rookie seasons, as did 2014-15 Rookie of the Year Andrew Wiggins of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Samsung NBA Summer League 2015 participants:
Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves, New Orleans Pelicans, New York Knicks, Phoenix Suns, Philadelphia 76ers, Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs, Toronto Raptors, Utah Jazz, Washington Wizards, NBA D-League Select.