Jul. 6—LAS VEGAS — First the West Coast Conference Tournament, then the NCAA Tournament and now NBA Summer League.
For the third time since early March, Gonzaga will return to Las Vegas — sort of — as the NBA’s annual Summer League showcase begins this week at Thomas & Mack Center and COX Pavilion on UNLV’s campus.
The Bulldogs have seven players on NBA rosters this week at Vegas Summer League, which begins on Friday and concludes with a championship game on July 17 at Thomas & Mack Center.
It’ll be a larger, more diverse group of Zags competing at Summer League this year, featuring three players from last year’s team that cruised to a WCC Tournament championship at nearby Orleans Arena before sweating out a Sweet 16 victory over UCLA weeks later at T-Mobile Arena just off the Vegas Strip.
Julian Strawther, the Vegas native and Sweet 16 hero who hit a deep, go-ahead 3-pointer inside the final 10 seconds of the UCLA win, will return to his hometown, this time wearing a Denver Nuggets uniform after the NBA champions selected him with the 29th overall pick in the recent draft.
Someone who was sharing the floor with Strawther last time he played in Vegas will be an opponent on Friday when the Nuggets face Gonzaga teammate Drew Timme and the Milwaukee Bucks at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Thomas & Mack Center. The game will be televised on ESPNU.
Timme, one of the most accomplished player in Gonzaga history, faces an important stretch of games in Vegas after going undrafted and signing an Exhibit 10 contract with the Bucks. Timme’s play and production over the next 1 1/2 weeks could determine whether Milwaukee chooses to convert his Exhibit 10 deal into a two-way contract — something that would need to happen before the start of the regular season.
That’s also the situation for former Gonzaga guard Malachi Smith, who elected not to return for the 2023-24 season and wound up signing an Exhibit 10 contract with the Portland Trail Blazers. With third overall draft pick Scoot Henderson on their roster, the Blazers should be a big draw in Vegas when they make their debut at 4 p.m. Friday at the Thomas & Mack Center, immediately following the Denver-Milwaukee game.
For the second consecutive year, former No. 2 overall draft pick Chet Holmgren will be one of the top attractions at Summer League as the Oklahoma City center continues to get back in game shape after missing his rookie season with a Lisfranc fracture. There haven’t been any hiccups so far, as the 7-foot-1 Holmgren scored 25 points, pulled down 20 rebounds and blocked seven shots while playing in two of OKC’s three games earlier this week at Salt Lake Summer League.
Holmgren and the Thunder make their first appearance in Vegas at 12:30 p.m. Saturday against the Dallas Mavericks at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Former Gonzaga point guard Andrew Nembhard returns to Indiana’s Summer League roster after starting in 63 of 75 games for the Pacers as a rookie and producing a number of highlight moments, including a winning shot over LeBron James to beat the Los Angeles Lakers and a 31-point outing against the Golden State Warriors.
Nembhard’s second stint at Vegas Summer League begins at 5 p.m. Saturday against Washington at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Former Gonzaga big man and WCC Player of the Year Filip Petrusev is back for his third year at Summer League after making three appearances at Salt Lake Summer League, where he averaged 9.0 points and 7.3 rebounds.
His Philadelphia 76ers open Vegas Summer League at 2 p.m. Saturday against the New York Knicks at COX Pavilion.
Joel Ayayi, similar to Petrusev, is also making a third stop in Vegas. The French-born guard was named to the Memphis Grizzlies’ Summer League roster after debuting at the event two years ago with the Lakers and suiting up for the Atlanta Hawks last July.
Ayayi, who played minimally in Memphis’ Salt Lake Summer League games, should see the floor when the Grizzlies open up in Vegas at 4 p.m. Saturday against the Chicago Bulls at COX Pavilion.
Days after signing a four-year deal with the Atlanta Hawks, Washington State’s Mouhamed Gueye will make his debut for the team that took him with the 39th pick of the recent draft.
Gueye, who averaged 14.3 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists for Kyle Smith’s Cougars, will open Summer League play at 7:30 p.m. Friday against the Sacramento Kings at COX Pavilion.
WSU teammate Justin Powell, who received a Summer League invite from the Miami Heat, will debut in Saturday’s early game at noon against the Boston Celtics at COX Pavilion.
Eastern Washington’s Angelo Allegri could see floor time for the Charlotte Hornets in a much-anticipated Summer League opener against No. 1 draft pick Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs at 6 p.m. Friday at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Former EWU standout Tanner Groves, a Shadle Park High School graduate who spent the past two seasons at Oklahoma, has an opportunity to make his Summer League debut in Vegas for the Oklahoma City Thunder after not playing in three games in Salt Lake City.