The Milwaukee Bucks will get the first crack at knocking off the newly crowned league champions in a couple weeks.
The NBA released the 2016 Samsung Summer League schedule on Tuesday, and the Bucks are slated to open play on July 8 against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Of course, the Cavs’ Summer League entry will hardly resemble the LeBron James-led squad that on Sunday beat the Golden State Warriors and won the NBA title.
This is the third straight season Milwaukee and Cleveland will face off in Las Vegas. Two years ago, the matchup featured the top two picks from the 2014 NBA Draft – Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker – and was the second-most-viewed NBA Summer League telecast of all time.
The Bucks will also play opening round games against the NBA D-League Select team on July 10 and the Memphis Grizzlies on July 11.
For the fourth consecutive year, the event will utilize a tournament-style schedule, with the 24 participating teams playing three games apiece from July 8 to 12, before being seeded in the tourney. The competition, which tips off on July 13, culminates in the Championship Game on Monday, July 18. Each team will play at least five games during the event; in all, the Samsung NBA Summer League will feature 67 games scheduled over 11 days at the COX Pavilion and Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
The Bucks will announce their Summer League roster at a later date.
ESPN will carry all 67 Samsung NBA Summer League games across the ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPNU and WatchESPN platforms. In addition, NBA TV will televise a slate of 30 games. The NBA will release a complete broadcast schedule at a later date.
Bucks' Summer League schedule
Friday, July 8 at 5 p.m. vs. Cleveland Cavaliers in COX Pavilion
Sunday, July 10 at 3:30 p.m. vs. NBA D-League Select in Thomas & Mack Center
Monday, July 11 at 3 p.m. vs. Memphis Grizzlies in COX Pavilion
Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.
After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.
Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.
