On Wednesday, the NBA released a statement announcing that the Chinese and Croatian national teams will play in the 2019 NBA Summer League. The two teams will join all the 30 NBA teams in the summer exhibition tournament, which will mark the second time that all the NBA teams will participate. The tournament will take place from July 5 to July 15 at the Thomas & Mack Center and the Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas.
The Chinese and Croatian national teams will join all 30 NBA teams at MGM Resorts NBA Summer League 2019, marking the first time that the league will feature two international teams.
Official Release: https://t.co/ddbtPt3ucI#NBASummer pic.twitter.com/5qaMSlSJmV
— NBA Summer League (@NBASummerLeague) March 20, 2019
Team China will play for the second time in Summer League as they played before in 2007. Also, the tournament will work as preparation for the Chinese team as they will play in the 2019 FIBA World Cup celebrated in China. For the Croatian team, it will be the first time they play in the tournament.
In 2018, all the teams played four preliminary games and then they were seeded from 1-30 in a bracket with the top two teams having a day off. This year Summer League will have a change in the playing format:
“MGM Resorts NBA Summer League 2019 opens with all 32 teams playing four preliminary games each. The top eight teams are then seeded in a tournament, which culminates with a Championship Game on July 15. Teams that do not qualify for the tournament will each play a consolation game.”
