NEW YORK– The Lakers will begin defense of their Summer League title against the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday, July 7 at 8:30 p.m. PT on ESPN. For the first time, every Summer League game will air live on television, with ESPN networks and NBA TV combining to televise a record number of games.
MGM Resorts NBA Summer League, which features all 30 NBA teams for the first time, will tip off with a record 10 games on Friday, July 6 and continue through Tuesday, July 17 at the Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The first day of action will include five games on NBA TV and a tripleheader on ESPN.
Spectrum SportsNet will televise the final two Lakers games, but the July 7th game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Philadelphia 76ers will only be televised on ESPN.
The tournament-style format will culminate with the Championship Game on July 17 at 7 p.m. PT on ESPN. Last year’s event, won by the Los Angeles Lakers behind 2017 Summer League MVP Lonzo Ball and 2017-18 NBA All-Rookie First Team selection Kyle Kuzma, set records for total attendance, single-day attendance, combined viewership across ESPN and NBA TV, and traffic to the NBA’s social and digital platforms.
For the second consecutive year, ESPN will present every game from Las Vegas via the ESPN App, along with a record 46 games on its linear television channels (ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU).
Each team will play a minimum of five games at MGM Resorts NBA Summer League, starting with three preliminary contests from July 6-10. The teams will then be seeded in the tournament, which starts on July 11 and concludes with the Championship Game on July 17.
Tickets for MGM Resorts NBA Summer League 2018 are on sale now. Fans can purchase tickets by visiting NBATickets.com.