NBA Summer League tips off in Vegas with 10 games and the OKC Thunder facing the Charlotte Hornets. Get to know the squad and prep for gameday. Vegas is the home of sleepless nights, benders, entertainers of many kinds, regret, and gambling. Starting July 6 it is the home for the NBA Summer League. That is where the OKC Thunder, and every other NBA franchise will complete their summer games. We now know the team, so here are a few tidbits on each player. Before we dive into the players what about the coaches? Mark Daigneault will pace the sidelines as the head coach for the OKC Thunder. Mark is the head man for the OKC Blue–The Thunder’s G-League affiliate. He also coached OKC Thunder summer league team since 2016. Another name that is interesting is Will Chapman. The advanced scout for the OKC Thunder is a quick raiser. After spending time on the Houston Rockets staff in 2016, he made the move to OKC last season. Now, the Oklahoma Christian University alum hopes to one day be in charge of an NBA Sideline. At 27 he will sit on the OKC Thunder Summer League bench, and help grow the young players. On to the players.<doc-sep>Photo : Gene Sweeney Jr. ( Getty Images In an NBA offseason already filled with earth-shaking moves from the likes of LeBron James and DeMarcus Cousins, it was 34-year-old journeyman point guard Raymond Felton who truly pushed his team into uncharted territory when he resigned with the Thunder for one year and $2.4 million. On the heels of Paul George’s somewhat larger new deal with the team, Felton’s contract gives OKC—if they don’t shed any salary—the priciest roster in NBA history. Advertisement Aside from George’s max deal, which works out to around $34 million/year, the Thunder are also paying $35 mil to Russell Westbrook, $27 mil to Carmelo Anthony, and $24 mil to Steven Adams. The remaining $30 million or so of that massive payroll is filled out most expensively by Andre Roberson’s $10 million/year contract, and the resigning of Jerami Grant for slightly less. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this whatsoever. Clay Bennett, primary owner of the Thunder, is obscenely wealthy and still the scummy beneficiary of the Sonics’ move to Oklahoma City, so it’s obviously a good thing if even relatively small chunks of his personal fortune get paid out to good (or mediocre) basketball men. Beyond the redistribution of wealth, it’s decently cool (and unfortunately kind of surprising) to see a team outside the very top tier of the NBA go all out to at least entertain its fans rather than blow the roster up for a tank job. Of course, there is no way in hell that this investment ends in a championship, and even a Western Conference Finals appearance seems unlikely for basically the same team that lost to the Jazz in the opening round of the playoffs last season. But hey, it’s a lot better to have a flawed collection of big names than a roster built with the intent of losing as many games as possible. $300 million is certainly a lot to pay for a second-round loss to the Rockets (at best) in 2019, but that’s not our money, and it’s actually kind of admirable that the Thunder are going to try and stay competitive in the gauntlet of the Western Conference, rather than wait out the Warriors’ dynasty. Just don’t let Bennett get away with it when he tries to embrace The Process after Westbrook leaves.<doc-sep>
OKLAHOMA CITY, July 5, 2018 – The Oklahoma City Thunder announced today its roster for the MGM Resorts NBA Summer League 2018. The Thunder’s summer league team will play a minimum of five games, 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. Oklahoma City’s summer league roster includes Thunder guard Terrance Ferguson and center Dakari Johnson, along with PJ Dozier and Daniel Hamilton and 2018 draft picks Devon Hall and Kevin Hervey. Members of the Thunder’s G League affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue, Michael Carrera, Michael Cobbins, Justin Leon and Rashawn Thomas are also on the roster. Mark Daigneault, head coach of the Oklahoma City Blue, will lead Oklahoma City’s summer league entry with Thunder assistant coach Vin Bhavnani serving as associate head coach. Tickets for MGM Resorts NBA Summer League 2018 are on sale now. Fans can purchase tickets by visiting NBATickets.com. Games can be viewed live on the ESPN networks or NBA TV and all box scores/game recaps can be found online at www.okcthunder.com. The Thunder’s complete Summer League roster can be found here and Oklahoma City’s MGM Resorts NBA Summer League schedule is as follows: DATE OPPONENT TIME(CT) LOCATION Friday, July 6 Charlotte 4:30 PM Thomas & Mack Center (Las Vegas, NV) Saturday, July 7 Brooklyn 6:00 PM Cox Pavilion (Las Vegas, NV) Monday, July 9 Toronto 2:30 PM Thomas & Mack Center (Las Vegas, NV) Wed.-Mon., July 11-16 Tournament Play Tuesday, July 17 Championship Game