When it comes to summer league, I’ve long been on Team ItDoesn’tMatter. Our team motto: “It’s just summer league.” And, according to some academic research lurking on the internet since 2019, maybe I should request a trade.
In the paper, titled “Is the NBA Summer League predictive of performance for NBA rookies?” three economists answer the question with a strong yes.
Brent A. Evans and Chris Clark, Georgia College & State University, and Joshua D. Pitts, Kennesaw State University did what academics do — gather data, build a model, crunch the numbers, and reach conclusions.