NBA summer league surprising success
Basketball has taken over July, giving it year-round relevance
WASHINGTON, D.C. — More than a month has passed since the NBA’S last competitive game, but a funny thing is taking place: The league has remained as relevant in July as it was when the Warriors were cutting down the Cavaliers in June.
That’s because the NBA offseason has taken over the slowest month on the sports calendar, the one that falls between the end of the league’s championship round and the start of NFL training camp. And it’s happened in a way that, only a few years ago, would have seemed impossible to just about everyone within the sport.
“I am a little surprised by the growth in interest, specifically in free agency and the Las Vegas Summer League, but it’s really just an extension of the remarkable growth in interest in the NBA we’ve seen over the last decade,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said. “The whole game experience has never been more compelling or entertaining, and each summer a fresh set of storylines emerge that keep our fans engaged.”
It’s that never-ending search for new storylines that has fueled the NBA’S surge in popularity during a time it once would disappear. With an ever-increasing appetite for coverage of the league’s offseason transactions — from the NBA draft in late June to free agency in July — and its annual summer leagues that showcase future stars, the NBA has taken hold during a period long dominated by baseball.
From the moment the NBA Finals end, the focus immediately shifts to the NBA draft (and a new NBA Awards show), followed by breathless coverage of free agency that coincides with summer league — first with smaller events featuring a handful of teams in Orlando and Salt Lake City, followed by its showcase event in Las Vegas — with one flowing into another to keep interest in the sport at a fever pitch.
It’s a combination that’s become irresistible to fans and the league’s TV partners, who see it as another avenue to seek returns on the massive investments they made in the sport beginning this past season when the league’s new TV deal kicked in.
“The NBA summer league is closely aligned with NBA free agency, which has become hugely popular,” said Julie Sobieski, ESPN’S vice president of programming, “and July is becoming just another hot popular month for the NBA.”
In an attempt to capitalize on that, ESPN has doubled down on its NBA programming. The network increased its coverage of the Las Vegas Summer League this year across 25 games shown on ESPN and ESPN2 and saw massive gains in viewership — largely thanks to the presence of the summer league champion Los Angeles Lakers and the No. 2 overall pick, Lonzo Ball.
ESPN also made the decision this summer to expand its schedule for the network’s daily studio show,
“The Jump.” Hosted by longtime
NBA reporter Rachel Nichols, who is joined daily by an array of ESPN NBA reporters and former players, the show was initially supposed to take a break during the summer. Yet the increasing interest in everything that goes on during the summer not only led ESPN to keep the show on the air year-round, but also to have Nichols host two free-agency specials on the opening two nights and some shows from Las Vegas during the summer league.
Ah, the summer league. What was once a loosely organized collection of teams convening for games in a variety of locations across the country with little or no fanfare has now become a massive marketing vehicle for the league across almost two weeks every summer in Las Vegas, where the league now also holds its annual meetings.
Virtually every important decision-maker in the sport now makes an appearance in Las Vegas each summer, while 24 of the NBA’S 30 franchises fielded teams in the league this year.
And so the NBA has managed to do something only the NFL has been able to previously: maintain interest virtually year-round in its sport. And given the momentum the sport has seemingly gathered, it seems unlikely that will change anytime soon.
“I don’t think we’ve maxed out at all,” Nichols said. “The fan base for the NBA is so young and diverse; it really is a sport that’s pointed forward. And there isn’t a barrier to entry in being a basketball fan.
“If you want to have a complex understanding of the X’s and O’s, there’s certainly an endless amount for you to nerd-out over, but you don’t need to see the sport that way to know that a Steph Curry 3-pointer or a Lebron James chase-down block is exciting.”