The 2023 Las Vegas NBA Summer League has been going on for the last week and is one of the few sources of entertainment for basketball fans this offseason. The concept of a Summer League has been well-established over the years and is viewed as a platform for NBA rookies, G League athletes, and other young stars to showcase their skills and talents to NBA scouts and executives.
Although the 30 teams across the league play in only 4 or 5 games, it is still given attention by fans since there is no other official regular season basketball transpiring at the same time. Moreover, the Summer League also concludes with a playoff-style matchup between the teams that have won the most games.
With that being said, fans should certainly want to know which teams have already qualified for these Summer League Playoffs and who is most likely to win. Let us take a closer look and find out.
The Houston Rockets could win the 2023 Las Vegas NBA Summer League
Although it would be very difficult to make a prediction on Summer League games, the Houston Rockets are favored by some fans to come out on top and win the NBA Summer League Finals. Despite being a team that struggles greatly throughout the regular season, the Rockets broke free of that label in the Summer League and currently sit atop the standings with a record of 4 wins and 0 losses.
They, along with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Utah Jazz have not lost a single time in the last week. A fair share of the credit should go to Amen Thompson, the young star that the Rockets selected with the 4th pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. While he got injured a few games into the Summer League, there is no denying that his play had a significant amount of impact and correlated to the success that the Rockets have seen.
To those who do not know, the top 4 teams will face off on 16th July for the Summer League semi-finals. This will be a single elimination-style matchup with the loser being knocked out of contention. The Finals are expected to occur the very next day and might just give these young stars a taste of a truly competitive atmosphere.
In any case, we wish all the teams and young athletes competing in the NBA Summer League playoffs the very best of luck. Since anything can happen in one game, all 4 qualifying teams will have an equal chance of winning the Summer League.