EDITORIAL: NBA Summer League a boon for Las Vegas

When it comes to basketball and Las Vegas, the first thing that often comes to mind is the UNLV men’s program, which was a juggernaut in its heyday under Jerry Tarkanian and has had varying degrees of success the past two decades. The city isn’t necessarily considered an NBA town.

But with each passing summer, that’s changing. The NBA Summer League is in the midst of its 10th-anniversary run at the Thomas &Mack Center and adjacent Cox Pavilion on the UNLV campus, and it’s no hyperbole to state the event is bigger and better than ever. As the Review-Journal’s Steve Carp reported, the annual basketball fest — held in the wake of the NBA Draft as teams work to evaluate top rookies and supporting-cast players — was founded in 2004 by Warren LeGarie, with just six teams and no real support from the league. But the NBA, savvy enough to know a great marketing opportunity when it sees it, became a full partner in 2007, and this year, 24 of the league’s 30 teams are in the July 11-21 event.

This marks the second year that the event features a tournament format, yet another of many innovations that has turned the Summer League from a small dot on the Las Vegas summer landscape to a huge attraction. “I wasn’t smart enough to think this could fail. Basically, we got lucky, and we’ve made the most of it,” said Mr. Legarie, who now serves as the event’s executive director on behalf of the NBA. “We’ve created the closest thing to the regular NBA experience for fans, and Las Vegas has taken us in as one of its own.”

But the benefits go far beyond an often jam-packed Cox Pavilion for each day’s slate of games and the respectable crowds at the more cavernous Thomas &Mack. While the NBA Summer League is no National Finals Rodeo, nor does it take over the town like a major convention, it does create a huge national buzz that creates tremendous value for Las Vegas. More than 62,000 fans attended last year, and ESPN and NBA-TV both have a strong presence at this year’s tournament. Highlights have been splashed all over “SportsCenter” for the past week.

Add to that arguably the NBA’s most intriguing free-agency period, with LeBron James’ decision (which again boosted Las Vegas, as he was in town in the days leading up to the Summer League), trade rumors, and the swirl around the players and new coaches taking part in the Summer League, and Las Vegas becomes the center of the basketball universe.

What it amounts to is a massive amount of free marketing for the city. In many ways, the event is priceless because of that.

Kudos to Mr. LeGarie for getting the NBA Summer League off the ground, and to the NBA — which is now floating the idea of an in-season tournament here — for further recognizing that Las Vegas has plenty to offer the league. Here’s to the next 10 years.