The NBA Summer League begins on Friday, July 7 for the Los Angeles Lakers as some players get a chance to showcase their talent and prove their worth while others fight for a spot on the team.
The NBA Summer League is a time for players to show their skills while playing against other similar talents. Summer League rosters are filled with all sorts of players from college stars to G-League players looking impress their team for a roster spot.
A new year brings new expectations. The expectations for some of the players on the Los Angeles Lakers‘ Summer League team, it’s to win the Las Vegas Summer League championship.
Both Lonzo Ball and Ivica Zubac stated that their goal for the Summer League is to win it all.
Lonzo Ball and Ivica Zubac both setting out winning summer league title as a goal
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) July 5, 2017
Lonzo Ball already setting some expectations. His summer-league goal? "Win the whole thing," he said. Lakers first game is Friday vs. Clips.
— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) July 5, 2017
Both Ball and Zubac are not crazy to set out this goal as the Lakers were deemed the co-favorites to win the Las Vegas Summer League when Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook Manger Jeff Sherman released the odds for teams playing. The Lakers share the odds with the Phoenix Suns.
2017 LV Summer League title
— Jeff Sherman (@golfodds) July 1, 2017
Lakers 6/1
Suns 6/1
Kings 7/1
Celtics 10/1
Bulls 10/1
Spurs 12/1
76ers 12/1
Jazz 12/1
Bucks 15/1
Warriors 15/1
With players like Brandon Ingram, Ball, Zubac, David Nwaba and others, the Lakers are a stacked team heading into Las Vegas. It is no wonder why the Lakers are picked as one of the favorites to win it all. They should be one of the better teams, if not the best team playing in Vegas.
Even of the Lakers don’t win it all, it is great for the young Lakers to put out this winning attitude and spread it to the rest of the team.
There will be a total of 24 teams playing in Las Vegas in a tournament-style format. Teams will play in three preliminary games first before being seeded for a tournament that will lead to the championship game on Monday, July 17. The league will last 11 days and there will be a total of 67 games played.
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The Lakers will start their journey for the title when they play in their first game on Friday, July 7 against the Los Angeles Clippers.