Top Storylines for 2024 NBA Summer Leagues

The basketball world keeps moving at a blur.

It doesn't feel that long ago that the Boston Celtics were wrapping up their record-setting 18th NBA championship, yet in the short time since, the draft has taken place, the trade world has erupted a few times and most major free agents have found new deals.

Things aren't letting up now, as summer-league play gets rolling with a trio of competitions set to play out over the next two-plus weeks in San Francisco, Sacramento, Salt Lake City and finally Las Vegas.

This is always an exciting, optimism-fueled time, as it's often when fans catch first glimpses of the league's rookie class. While several first-year players are among the biggest storylines at the event, they aren't the only ones worth watching.

With Victor Wembanyama already appearing like the Association's next big thing (literally and figuratively), it may only be a matter of time until he pushes the San Antonio Spurs into championship contention. All he might need, in fact, is a roster ready to keep up.

The Spurs have been careful not to push too hard too quickly, but Stephon Castle, this year's No. 4 pick, serves as San Antonio's biggest investment to date in Wembanyama's supporting cast. Of all the players on the Spurs' current roster, Castle's development could loom largest when it comes to determining this team's readiness.

If the rookie guard can get his work-in-progress perimeter shot up to par, Castle "could have superstar upside," opined The Ringer's Kevin O'Connor. Castle just made major contributions to UConn's second consecutive championship run as a teenaged freshman. His ceiling is enormous.

San Antonio could opt to conservatively handle Castle's development in the regular season—his on-ball duties may be a bit limited by the arrival of Chris Paul—but summer league should be different. Castle should have the freedom to run offense and hopefully flash what kind of scoring threat he might be at this level.

He may not be an obvious choice for appointment-viewing outside of the Alamo City, but there's a universe in which he's eventually co-star to perhaps the best player on the planet. This could be the start of a highly productive partnership.

Two of this year's first nine picks were spent on bigs. Or behemoths, rather.

The No. 7 pick sent Donovan Clingan, who measured a hair under 7'2" without socks at the combine, to the Portland Trail Blazers. The Memphis Grizzlies then used the No. 9 pick on Zach Edey, who wowed combine attendees by measuring just under 7'4" without socks and sporting a nearly 7'11" wingspan. Together, they tipped the scales at a collective 581 pounds.

These are center centers, looking every bit the part of the low-post maulers old-heads so often reminisce about. But do these players still have a place in today's NBA? That's a question evaluators have been wrestling with since each warranted big-time attention by becoming one of college basketball's most impactful players.

"Edey and Clingan are both huge and talented, to be clear, and that gives them a great chance," The Athletic's John Hollinger wrote in April. "However, both players are about to face a radical change in conditions, from a college basketball world that is hugely favorable to their player archetype to an NBA environment that couldn't hardly be more hostile to it. Right now they have a stiff breeze at their backs, but they're about to tack into the wind."

Summer league won't provide final judgment on their NBA utility, but it will at least show glimpses of what they're able to do in this more spaced-out environment. Do they have more shooting range than they've shown? Are they harder to handle from close-range with more room to operate? Will they get exposed and exploited in open space? The summer could provide a few early hints of how they'll fare in the regular season.

Think of everything you heard about the 2024 draft class. The reviews were pretty abysmal, right?

Well, the most common complaint was tied to the draft's lack of high-end, no-brainer talent. And that was, in effect, a direct criticism of the prospects pegged at the top of this class.

Hopefully, it's a message that fellow Frenchmen Zaccharie Risacher and Alex Sarr, respectively the Nos. 1 and 2 picks, took personally. Externally, expectations aren't enormous for either one, but there has to be a strong internal desire to prove those doubters wrong.

Risacher looks the part of the always coveted big wing, but there are questions of whether he can grow beyond the three-and-D label. Sarr projects as an all-purpose defender, but his offense lacks polish, and it's impossible to know how much he'll tap into that potential.

If either (or both) of these players struggle at summer league, there will be swift condemnations of the picks. Never mind that many summer takeaways are often proved to be overreactions, but when there are already doubts about these two, critics will be all too eager to cling to confirmation biases if given the chance.

Rookies might be the first players who come to mind on the summer-league circuit but sophomores-to-be can wind up stealing the show.

Ideally, these players look like they don't belong for the best reason. You hope they show out to such an enormous degree that their teams don't ask them to suit up more than a couple of times. Jalen Williams popped for 21 points in 21 minutes during his first summer outing last year, and the Oklahoma City Thunder didn't bother suiting him up for a second.

Players like Brandon Miller, Keyonte George, Brandin Podziemski or Cam Whitmore could absolutely follow the same path this time around. They all showed signs of encouragement as rookies, but an eruption or two in summer league could set the stage for full-fledged sophomore breakouts.

It could also provide a helpful pick-me-up to those who couldn't secure a rotation role as a rookie. Jarace Walker, Kobe Bufkin and Jett Howard are among those who might need to force their way into more floor time by thriving under the summer spotlight.

This must be the first—and almost certainly will be the last—time that the No. 55 pick in the current draft will arrive at summer league on a first-name basis with even the most casual hoop fans.

Of course, most No. 55 picks aren't direct descendants of NBA royalty. It just so happens that this year's 55th pick, Bronny James, is the firstborn of LeBron James, one of two reasonable answers to the GOAT debate. Oh, and the son also just so happened to be selected by the father's franchise, the decorated and forever-fishbowled Los Angeles Lakers.

This is a situation unlike any we've seen, and probably one we'll never see again. It's also a narrative Bronny could quiet a tiny bit by starting to establish an NBA identity different from his dad's. He'll always be LeBron's son, obviously, but the better Bronny performs, the less people can try to say that's all he is.

"I'm … trying to get my name out for myself," Bronny told reporters. "I just want to come in and get my work in and get better every day. I never really had a thought of me going to play with my dad. That's always there to take part of, but it wasn't a main focus of mine."

The overlapping tenures of LeBron and Bronny is already a first for this league. There will almost surely be a history-making moment of the two sharing the floor at some point next season, too.

Bronny plays a part in that history, but it's much more a reflection of his father's legacy. Summer league and the G League-heavy regular season that follows, though, is all about Bronny. He has a spotlight courtesy of his bloodlines, but this is his chance to seize it.