NBA Summer League Deep Dive on Risacher, Reed Sheppard, and 2024‘s Standouts

Getty Images/Ringer illustration We braved the heat, the crowds, and the chaotic basketball so that you wouldn't have to. Here are the players, moments, and scenes that made an impression. Dealing In Fresh off the plane, right off the bat, I got to the hotel and was starstruck. Nemanja Bjelica was in the queue to check in. Sidy Cissoko was looking at his phone next to one of the in-house restaurants. Known gourmand, Death Cab for Cutie scholar, and open-denim-shirt enthusiast Rob Mahoney later told me that I am a sicko for recognizing Sidy. I told him it's my business to know, and that I'm already feeling at home because summer league is the place where the sickos come to congregate. It's the place where a Blake Hinson and Quincy Olivari heat-check duel breaks out. It's the place where Miles Bridges can be seen roaming a casino floor in a jester hat (this really happened). It's the place where a grown man can pump his fist in a Matt Maloney jersey and chino shorts … and the place where someone else will excitedly take a picture of him. For those who've never been, there are two gyms at Las Vegas summer league: Cox Pavilion, which is smaller, and the Thomas & Mack...