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Leagues in Sacramento, Salt Lake City wrapped earlier this week; Las Vegas starts Sunday
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LAS VEGAS – Opportunity awaits a host of Kentucky men’s basketball players in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas over the next couple of weeks.
With play slated to begin Sunday, 13 former UK players were in line to participate in summer league action.
Leagues in Sacramento and Salt Lake City took place earlier this week with a handful of teams, but the Las Vegas league will feature all 30 NBA teams.
The Las Vegas league will include Kentucky two’s NBA Draft picks, Isaiah Jackson (Indiana Pacers via a trade with the Los Angeles Lakers) and Brandon Boston Jr. (Los Angeles Clippers via a trade with the Memphis Grizzlies).
Other notable participants include Brandon Knight (Brooklyn Nets), who led Kentucky to the Final Four in 2011, Immanuel Quickley (New York Knicks), the 2020 Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, and Tyrese Maxey (Philadelphia 76ers), a 2020 NBA Draft pick.
Here is a list of the former UK players scheduled to play in the Las Vegas league (does not include former players who transferred or did not finish their last season with Kentucky):
Brooklyn Nets – Brandon Knight
Charlotte Hornets – Nick Richards
Golden State Warriors – Mychal Mulder*
Indiana Pacers – Isaiah Jackson
Los Angeles Clippers – Brandon Boston Jr.
Memphis Grizzlies – Olivier Sarr
New York Knicks –Kevin Knox II*, Immanuel Quickley, Reid Travis
Philadelphia 76ers – Tyrese Maxey
San Antonio Spurs – Skal Labissičre
Toronto Raptors – Ashton Hagans
Utah Jazz – Nate Sestina^
*Originally on the team’s official Summer League roster but is not list on the Las Vegas roster
^Played on the Utah Jazz Blue squad in the Utah league but no Utah roster has been announced for Las Vegas at this time
The Las Vegas League will take place at the Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. All 75 games of the 10-day competition will air live on ESPN’s family of networks or NBA TV. Every game will also be available to stream on the ESPN app.
All teams will play five games each. After every team plays four games, the two teams with the best records from the first four games (with tiebreakers) will meet in the championship game on Aug. 17 at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN. The 28 teams that do not play in the championship game will play a fifth game on Aug. 16 or Aug. 17.
Fans can access box scores, game recaps and cumulative statistics at nba.com/summer-league.
In 12 seasons with John Calipari at the helm, Kentucky has churned out three No. 1 selections, 32 first-rounders, 21 lottery picks and 43 total players in the NBA Draft. The 43 draft picks are 15 more than the next closest school (Duke). The 32 first-rounders are more than the entire Big Ten (29) combined in that timeframe.
With Jackson’s selection in the opening round this year, UK has now had at least one player taken in the opening round in each of the last 12 drafts under Calipari. That’s the longest streak in the modern draft era (since 1966). Calipari’s streak is 14 straight dating back to his time at Memphis.
Of the 70 players who have finished their college careers at UK under Calipari, 43 have been selected in the NBA Draft, a 61.4% success rate. Another five of those made the NBA, and the majority of the rest were walk-ons. Those numbers do not include the late Terrence Clarke.
Calipari's players have entered the league NBA-ready. His players have garnered 23 All-Star selections, with Anthony Davis winning the game's MVP honor in 2017. Derrick Rose was named NBA MVP in 2011. Six of his players have been tabbed All-NBA, three have been named NBA Rookie of the Year, and 15 players from Calipari's first 11 teams at Kentucky have made the NBA All-Rookie teams.
Using figures compiled by basketball-reference.com and spotrac.com, Calipari-coached players only (which includes Rose but not Rajon Rondo) have amassed more $3 billion in career NBA contracts.
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