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Today, the NBA announced the schedule for the 2013 Summer League in Las Vegas, Nevada. 22 teams will be participating over the 11 day session (July 12-22), including your Phoenix Suns.
This year's Summer League will be debuting a tournament style schedule to crown the first ever NBA Summer League Champion. The schedule will include each team playing three preliminary games from July 12-16, after which they will be seeded accordingly in a tournament that will feature the last two teams standing in a championship game on July 22. Each team will play at least five games, with the additional games dependent on its success in the tournament.
The Suns will make their Summer League debut on July 13 against the Portland Trail Blazers. This game will also mark the debut of new Suns Head Coach Jeff Hornacek, who has revealed that he will be leading the Suns' Summer League sqaud. This makes sense for the rookie Head Coach, as five current Suns - Diante Garrett, Kendall Marshall, PJ Tucker, and Marcus and Markieff Morris - will be playing in Summer League, as well as all the rookies the Suns will draft in a little over a week. With what could be most of the Suns' 2013-2014 roster competing in the Summer League, Coach Hornacek will get an early start in trying to handle this Suns roster.
Most of the games will be televised on NBA TV, (the complete broadcast schedule will be released at a later time). Check out the complete schedule of matchups here.
For Suns fans aching to see some on-court action, the Summer League will offer a great precursor to the upcoming season. Here's wishing Coach Hornacek and the Suns Summer League roster the best of luck in their efforts.