This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
More than a month has passed since the NBA's last competitive game, but a funny thing is taking place: the league has remained as relevant in July as it was when the Warriors were cutting down the Cavaliers in June.
That's because the NBA offseason has taken over the slowest month on the sports calendar, the one that falls between the end of the league's championship round and the start of NFL training camp. And it's happened in a way that, only a few years ago, would've seem impossible to just about everyone within the sport.
"I am a little surprised by the growth in interest, specifically in free agency and the Las Vegas Summer League, but it's really just an extension of the remarkable growth in interest in the NBA we've seen over the last decade," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said. "The whole game experience has never been more compelling or entertaining, and each summer a fresh set of storylines emerge that keep our fans engaged."
It is that never-ending search for new storylines that has fueled the NBA's surge in popularity during a time it once would disappear. With an ever-increasing appetite for coverage of the league's offseason transactions — from the NBA draft in late June to free agency in July — and its annual summer leagues that showcase future stars, the NBA has taken hold during a period long dominated by another sport.
"For the most part, the NBA had conceded the summer — not for the most part, all of it — to baseball," said Warren LeGarie, a longtime NBA agent and co-founder of the Las Vegas Summer League. "For them, once the draft was finished, they went dark until the October camps started.
"And that just didn't make any sense to me."
Now, the NBA not only doesn't cede ground during the offseason, it gains it. From the moment the NBA Finals end, the focus immediately shifts to the NBA draft (and a new NBA Awards show), followed by breathless coverage of free agency that coincides with summer league — first with smaller events featuring a handful of teams in Orlando, Fla., and Salt Lake City, followed by its showcase event in Las Vegas — with one flowing into another to keep interest in the sport at a fever pitch for weeks after the season ends.
It's a combination that's become irresistible both to fans and the league's television partners, who see it as another avenue to seek returns on the massive investments they made in the sport beginning this past season when the league's new television deal kicked in.
"The NBA summer league is closely aligned with NBA free agency, which has become hugely popular," said Julie Sobieski, ESPN's vice president of programming, "and July is becoming just another hot popular month for the NBA."
In an attempt to capitalize on that, ESPN has doubled down on its NBA programming. The network increased its coverage of the Las Vegas Summer League this year across 25 games shown on ESPN and ESPN2 and saw massive gains in viewership — largely thanks to the presence of this year's summer league champion Los Angeles Lakers and the No. 2 overall pick, Lonzo Ball, which drew huge crowds.
Meanwhile, ESPN also made the decision earlier this summer to expand its schedule for the network's daily studio show, "The Jump." Hosted by longtime NBA reporter Rachel Nichols, who is joined daily by an array of ESPN NBA reporters and former players, the show was initially supposed to take a break during the summer. Yet the increasing interest in everything that goes on during the summer not only led ESPN to keep the show on the air year-round, but also to have Nichols host a pair of free agency specials on the opening two nights and some shows from Las Vegas during summer league.
"Well, we knew were jumping on a moving train; I just don't think we knew how fast it would be going," Nichols said. "Turns out, really fast. Offseason player transactions that used to barely rate a line at the end of a newspaper notes column have become the subject of hours of endless and breathless speculation, and even then, people still seem to want more.
"'The Jump' was an hour long during the playoffs, but we shifted back to our usual half-hour format for the offseason. I get emails or tweets almost daily now asking me when we're going back to an hour — I keep saying, 'Um, you know it's July, right?' "
But the calendar feels more irrelevant, as the league continues to gain momentum while no games are being played — no games, that is, except for the summer league exhibitions that used to be an afterthought. What was once a loosely organized collection of teams convening for games in a variety of locations across the country with little or no fanfare has now become a massive marketing vehicle for the league across nearly two weeks every summer in Las Vegas, where the league now also holds its annual meetings.
"I don't think we've maxed out at all," Nichols said. "The fan base for the NBA is so young and diverse; it really is a sport that's pointed forward. And there isn't a barrier to entry in being a basketball fan."