NBA adds Croatian team to summer league

21 March 2019 – The Croatian national team will join all 30 NBA teams, as well as the Chinese national team in participating in the NBA Summer League, which will be held July 5-15 in Las Vegas, the NBA announced on Wednesday.

This will be the first time that the NBA Summer League has included two international teams, and the first time the Croatians will be taking part. The Chinese national team last played in the league in 2007. 

The NBA Summer League will last 13 days with 83 matches played during that period. Each of the 32 teams will play four preliminary games, with the top eight teams seeded into a tournament to determine the champion.

Every NBA team will participate in Las Vegas, whilst the Portland Trail Blazers are the defending champions after beating the Los Angeles Lakers last year.

In 2018, a record 139,972 fans turned out to watch the NBA Summer League. There was also a record viewership on ESPN and NBA TV. 

Croatia is free this summer after not qualifying for the World Cup which will be played in China in August and September.  

The NBA Summer League is an off-season competition organised by the NBA. Teams use the tournament, which has been going on for decades, to try out different summer rosters.