My Two Cents: Welcome to Las Vegas, Where Summer League Craziness Already Has Begun
Updated Friday, July 7, 2023, 1:07 p.m.
LAS VEGAS, Nev. — When the entire NBA descends on one city, that's always a cool thing. All 30 teams are here in Las Vegas for the NBA 2K24 Summer League that starts Friday, and there are storylines galore.
There are 76 games in 11 days, starting with eight on Friday. Every team will play at least five games, and we'll actually crown a champion a week from Monday. All the recent 2023 NBA Draft picks are here, along with 300-plus other players.
So where do we start with all these great stories?
Well, with Britney Spears, of course.
Yep, that Britney Spears.
The former pop star who used to be somebody 20 years ago was back in the news this week, along with Victor Wembanyama, the first pick of the San Antonio Spurs who is supposed to be the next big thing in basketball. He's a world-wide sensation, kind of like Britney Spears used to be.
Their paths crossed at Aria on Wednesday night in Las Vegas, and it has set off a massive he-said, she-said thunderstorm. You know when TMZ is the first to report the story that several layers of sensationalism are sure to be a part of it.
The 41-year-old Spears apparently saw Wembanyama and his entourage a few times during the night. Spears was there for dinner with her husband, Sam Asghari and two others, according to reports. Spears, as big as it got in music 20 years ago, still gets swarmed by fans herself, and she knows all about security details and working through crowds. She also still has 55 million Twitter followers.
Spears told police that all she did was tap Wembanyama on the shoulder because it was loud. The other side said she grabbed him. The police are involved now because one of the 7-foot-4 Wembanyama's security guards allegedly back-handed Spears in the face.
And the drama exploded from there. UPDATE: The latest news on Friday was that Las Vegas police would not be filing any charges.
“Traumatic experiences are not new to me and I have had my fair share of them. I was not prepared for what happened to me last night,” Spears said on her Instagram account Thursday.
She went on to describe how she “recognized an athlete in my hotel lobby as I was heading to dinner,” later seeing him again at a restaurant at a different hotel.
“I decided to approach him and congratulate him on his success. It was really loud, so I tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. I simply tapped him on the shoulder. His security then back handed me in the face without looking back, in front of a crowd.” She continued to say that the slap nearly knocked her down.
“I get swarmed by people all the time,” Spears said. “In fact, that night. I was swarmed by a group of at least 20 fans. My security team didn’t hit any of them.”
Wembanyama met with reporters on Thursday to discuss his first game on Friday night, and talked about the incident. He said he didn't see what happened, and was quickly whisked away by his security team.
Wembanyama said he heard someone calling him, but that security had previously instructed him not to stop in the crowd.
“That person was calling me, ‘Sir, sir,’ and that person grabbed me from behind,” he said. “I didn’t see what happened because I was walking straight and they told me ‘don’t stop.’ But that person grabbed me from behind – not on my shoulder, she grabbed me from behind. I just know the security pushed her away. I don’t know with how much force though, but security pushed her away. I didn’t stop to look.”
“I didn’t know (Spears was the woman involved) for a couple hours,” later adding, “Then the security of the Spurs told me it was Britney Spears. At first, I was like, ‘No, you’re joking,’ but yeah, it turns out it was Britney Spears. I never saw her face. I just kept walking straight.”
This is the last thing the NBA wanted on the eve of Summer League play here because Wembanyama is their next big thing. It's the biggest debut since LeBron James turned pro 20 years ago, and a lot of people say this is even bigger because the 19-year-old Frenchman is already a world-wide sensation.
The league, of course, would love for all the attention to on his debut Friday night at Thomas & Mack Center here in Las Vegas. The Spurs take on the Charlotte Hornets and No. 2 pick Brandon Miller of Alabama, and the NBA would love for that to be the story.
ESPN hopes so too, of course, since they're televising the game at 9 p.m. ET. For the complete summer league schedule, CLICK HERE
It's a shame this has all happened to Wembanyama, of course. From all reports, he's a nice, quiet teenager who's fully aware of all the hype around him. He doesn't want to be dragged into any of this, and has a security team for a reason. But the police are involved now and Spears went back to Instragram on Thursday still demanding an apology and playing the victim card.
I can't wait to see Wembanyama in person on Friday night. The rest of the world agrees. There's so much to see here. My Fastbreak on FanNation team has lots of fun stories planned during the next week or so.
I wasn't expecting this to be the first story. But it's the buzz, and it'll have to do until the games start.
Related stories on Summer League
- COMPLETE VEGAS SCHEDULE: Las Vegas Summer League games start on Friday and concludes with a championship game on July 17. Here's the complete schedule, with game times and TV information. CLICK HERE
