The NBA announced the schedule for the 2023 Las Vegas Summer League and the Los Angeles Lakers will be taking on the Golden State Warriors, Charlotte Hornets, Boston Celtics and Memphis Grizzlies.
All teams are originally scheduled four games and then from there, the best two teams will move on to the championship game on Monday, July 17 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
Teams that don’t make the championship will still have one more game scheduled, which for the Lakers would be on July 15 or 16.
Now that the NBA Draft has come and gone, these games have more intrigue knowing who will be playing for what team. The Lakers made two picks, selecting Indiana guard Jalen Hood-Schifino with the 17th overall pick and then Pepperdine wing Maxwell Lewis with the 40th overall pick.
After the draft, the Lakers also signed both Florida big man Colin Castelton and Missouri guard D’Moi Hodge to two-way contracts, joining Cole Swider who will be returning for a second season on a two-way deal. They also signed Florida wing Alex Fudge to an Exhibit-10 contract, so the Lakers’ Summer League roster is already starting to come together with Max Christie also expected to play.
The Lakers will kick off the Summer League with two games in the California Classic in Sacramento against the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs. It will be interesting to see if No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama suits up in that second game.
They then kick off the Las Vegas Summer League against the Warriors, who drafted Brandin Podziemski out of Santa Clara 19th overall and then traded to draft Indiana big man Trayce Jackson-Davis with the 57th pick. That means that college teammates in Jackson-Davis and Hood-Schifino will be squaring off in the Las Vegas opener.
L.A.’s second game will come against the Hornets, who drafted Brandon Miller out of Alabama second overall. They wound up selecting four total players with Nick Smith Jr., James Nnaji and Amari Bailey being taken from late-first to mid-second rounds, which should make for a quality Summer League roster.
On the other hand, the Celtics only made one pick after a number of trade downs, including one with the Hornets. Their lone selection was Arkansas wing Jordan Walsh with the 38th pick in the second round.
Similarly, the Grizzlies only made two picks late in the second round when they took GG Jackson and Tarik Biberovic.
While the Hornets will be a tough test, there is real potential for the Lakers to make some noise in Las Vegas and perhaps make the championship game for the first time since 2018.
Lakers Las Vegas Summer League Schedule
July 7 vs. Warriors at 8 p.m. PT on ESPN
July 9 vs. Hornets at 1 p.m. PT on ESPN2
July 12 vs. Celtics at 7 p.m. PT ESPN2
July 14 vs. Grizzlies at 7:30 p.m. PT NBA TV
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