Summer league hoops will return to Salt Lake City once again in 2019 with a new-look event hosted by the Utah Jazz.
Without question, summer league basketball has become a big part of the NBA experience for hardcore fans around the globe, and perhaps no team is as responsible for fostering its growth as the Utah Jazz. After all, the team’s Rocky Mountain Revue was the Association’s OG summer league, beginning play way back in 1984.
Summer-time hoops continue to be a fixture in Salt Lake City — a multi-year break in the 2010s notwithstanding — and this year will be no different. However, the Jazz’s annual summer league will be getting a big-time facelift for its 2019 edition.
Per an announcement from the team on Monday, the event will no longer be known as the Utah Jazz Summer League, as has been the case since 2015. When it returns to Vivint Arena on July 1, it will be known as the Salt Lake City Summer League.
As part of the re-brand, the event is getting a new logo, as well as a new court design based on the team’s popular City Edition court.
Via the Deseret News’ Eric Woodyward —
It has been renamed the Salt Lake City Summer League. pic.twitter.com/R6jSkOlCVd
— Eric Woodyard (@E_Woodyard) May 6, 2019
I may be on an island with regards to my middle-of-the-road reaction to the City Edition uniforms, but that court definitely brings the heat.
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As was the case last season, the Memphis Grizzlies and San Antonio Spurs will participate in the round-robin showcase, which will run through July 3 and feature four teams playing six total games. Rounding out the field for the SLC SL will be the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are replacing the Atlanta Hawks.
With Memphis and Cleveland both landing in the draft lottery, the event should once again feature some highly-touted draft picks and stars on the rise. In recent years, Ben Simmons, Donovan Mitchell, Jayson Tatum, Trae Young and Jaren Jackson, Jr. have all taken the court in the 801 for their first taste of NBA hoops.
The Salt Lake City Summer League schedule will be announced at a later date.