"Always overdo it": Warren LeGarie on how Las Vegas NBA Summer League is prepared for Bronny James hype and more (Exclusive)
Uncertainty awaits Bronny James on numerous things.
How well he can develop as an NBA player? Can he handle the scrutiny by following his famous father’s footsteps? Can he withstand the pressure of playing for Los Angeles Lakers franchise expected to win NBA championships?
One thing appears likely, though. When the Lakers play the Houston Rockets on Friday at Thomas & Mack Center, James will likely play in front of a sell-out crowd of nearly 18,00 fans.
Warren LeGarie interview: Summer League, Bronny James & More
“We’re on the verge of it right now,” Warren LeGarie, the executive director of Las Vegas Summer League, told Sportskeeda. “People are always worried they can’t get in on opening weekend. Everyone wants to be here on opening weekend. We’re very close. We’re going to have to break some hearts where we have to say, ‘You can’t be here for all the excitement.’”
LeGarie talked to Sportskeeda about numerous topics involving Las Vegas Summer League, including his expectations on what buzz Bronny will create there, Victor Wembanyama’s debut last season and Zion Williamson’s debut [in 2019] ending early because of a nearby earthquake.
Editor’s note: The following one-on-one conversation has been edited and condensed
What do you expect the buzz will be like for Bronny compared to other high-profile Summer League debuts?
Warren LeGarie:
“We’ve been anticipating this for about a year and a half. Not that we knew anything. But you develop instincts after a few years of doing this. We always believed that Bronny would be in this draft. No matter what, he’s a great story. He’s not a good story. He’s one of the great stories of a kid who’s not only overcome the glare of celebrityhood from his dad, but also personal hardship. This kid has overcome so much. So, anybody who thinks he’s not going to succeed, that’s a fool’s bet. This kid is going to succeed. He has all the tools. He’s willing to do the work. Everybody knows that. He’s certainly not trying to live off his dad’s legacy. This kid is one of the hardest-working players. In my opinion, he’s going to find his legs as an NBA contributor.”
Given Bronny’s circumstances with where he’s at as a player and missing most of his freshman season at USC, what do you think playing in the Vegas Summer League will do for him?
Warren LeGarie:
“The summer is huge for him. The only way you get better is by playing. You have to play games. You can be on the practice court. But there is nothing like playing in real live games. That’s where you test all of the things you’ve done in practice. We may not be a real NBA game, but we are certainly a real NBA experience. People will testify to that after being here all of these years. The one thing that separates him from a lot of other guys is how smart he is. Yes, a lot of the players like to say it’s about from the shoulders down. But ultimately what creates an NBA player is the shoulders above. If you watch this kid play, he sees the game ahead of other people. No matter what, that is an NBA skill. That’s what keeps you in the league and makes you a contributor.”
Because of the attention that the Lakers generate and that Bronny generates because of LeBron, do you expect this will be the most anticipated event ever in Vegas Summer League history?
Warren LeGarie:
“I know a lot of people had question marks about Wemby [Victor Wembanyama] and his size and his body of work. But there were a lot of suggestions that he would be really good. Here, I think there are a lot of people who have genuine curiosity about who Bronny is going to be. The world is divided into haters and believers. There are a lot of people who believe in his story, want to see him succeed, and be here to support him. There are also a lot of haters that want him to fail. I hope that’s good motivation for him. The greatest revenge in life is success. Be successful. You don’t have to say anything to anyone. When you wave at them and smile, they’re dying inside. I think that’s what he is about to show everybody. ‘If you want to doubt me, you can do it at your risk.’”
Will Bronny’s debut in Vegas require any additional staffing than normal?
Warren LeGarie:
“Never be cheap. Always overdo it. Always anticipate it. If it doesn’t happen, so be it. If it does happen, we’ll prepare for it. We’re always anticipating trying to do a little bit extra this year to handle the many more people we anticipate coming. We’ve increased our intern staff. Not our basic staff, which is about 30 people strong. But we have about 120 interns who come in from all parts of the world. They work here every day handing out stats, holding elevator doors, cleaning up, holding seats, and walking people to their seats."
"We have that, but what we always believe in is, ‘Why not have everything prepared?’ You hate to go ‘Field of Dreams’ on this. But ‘if you build it, they will come.’ We think we’ve built a solid product that works for the fans. You can’t have better accessibility. The price point is ridiculous. Eight games for about $50. Where do you find that? We don’t charge for air conditioning, which we would be justified in doing, especially this week. If you do it the right way and they see you believe in your own product, people will have confidence and believe in it as well. Good things are always going to happen.”
At this point in time, would Wemby’s debut be the top Vegas Summer League moment with both the caliber of player and the buzz he created?
Warren LeGarie:
"In that moment, he was. But earlier, it was Zion [Williamson]. There is always somebody. Before, it was Blake Griffin when he was with the Clippers [in 2009]. Every year, Summer League stands on its own. But the one thing that people know is that we’ll create a good event. Fathers don’t have ugly kids, I get that. But here’s what I believe. Summer League is really the start because they’re going to get a real-life product and will get great production value. They’ll feel like they’re in a great environment and will see great games. You can’t ever forget this. We have real NBA referees here. It changes the game and makes it legitimate. So the whole atmosphere suggests it’s the place to be. I love being here because I still love the game and I love being around the freshness and the new stories. The stars of tomorrow are being seen here today. Like a father sees his kid grow up, there’s no greater satisfaction than watching the way they start out and the way it turns out. It’s why I come back.”
Specifically on Wemby, what made the atmosphere unique with fans both seeing him struggle during his debut and then having a bounce-back game the following night?
Warren LeGarie:
“I live most of the year in Costa Rica. One of the biggest things down there is telenovelas. They’re the soap operas. ‘One day, he’s great! One day, he’s not! Who’s he going to be? Is he real the deal?’ There’s always a storyline for people to follow. We’re adding that piece to our Summer League this year with Summer League diaries. Every day, we’re having somebody talk about a story and we’ll put it together in a collective book at the end of the event. That way, people can relive the moments. In that very moment, it’s the most important thing in the world. In that very news cycle 24 hours later, the other thing is more important in the whole world. We’re going to try to capture those moments and give people a chance to relive them and for themselves to accurately judge what was the biggest moment. We’re going to find individual stories that are worth being told. We’ll bring it to light.”
You dealt with some unique circumstances regarding Zion’s debut, and an Earthquake happening during his game…
Warren LeGarie:
(interrupts) “As I say to this day, ‘If it’s swaying, we’re playing.’ The thing didn’t jolt. The university (UNLV) does a great job of keeping this facility up to date. They had just renovated the scoreboard and the arena to make it earthquake-safe. If the thing would’ve jolted and you saw dust coming down, then everybody should get out of the gym. But the thing started swaying. Up at Cox Pavilion, no one even knew it happened. The arena did its job. It cushioned the blow. Unfortunately, some hysterics took over instead of listening to the building manager. We should’ve played that night. But it makes for a great story, okay?”
What was it like to manage that behind the scenes?
Warren LeGarie:
“I certainly have strong opinions. You might remember that from a lot of our discussions (laughs). My opinion is we should’ve been playing. But unfortunately, the people who are our bosses, we’re happy to have them and they’ve been great to us, but the NBA decided we shouldn’t. There are no regrets. But I just felt that thing was managed fine, and we should’ve continued it. That was a big night. It was a story-telling night. To this day, what caused the earthquake was that last dunk by Zion. That’s what I’m going with, okay? (laughs). That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.”
Since then, has the league conceded it would’ve been safe to resume play ?
Warren LeGarie:
“Nobody ever admits to anything. That’s the biggest problem with our culture. Nobody is perfect. If you screwed up, you screwed up. But you move past it and learn from it. It’s something that I tell my coaches: ‘A loss is only a loss if you don’t learn from it. If you learn from it, it’s an education.’ That was an education for us.”
What other moments rank high in Summer League history?
Warren LeGarie:
“We made the move from one gym to two gyms. There was a game with Jeremy Lin against John Wall [in 2010]. In the last quarter, everybody got crazy. People started noticing it was a great game. We saw the lines were out the door, and we got on a first-name basis with the fire marshal. We kept trying to open the doors, and they kept shutting them. That’s when we got to two gyms. Blake was the beneficiary of that. He was against his brother (Taylor). It was a great experience to have that happen. It was big time."
"The other one that comes to mind is before D’Angelo Russell’s second season with the Lakers [2016]. They’re in overtime. He knows what he’s going to do. He does a step-back 3, and knows that he’s going to make it. He walks out with his ice in the veins [gesture]. People went nuts. In that year in our playoffs, there were three sudden-death playoffs. It couldn’t have been any more exciting. Clearly, Lonzo Ball [playing in 2017] made us grow up for the league. That was a huge impact for us. He was bigger than life in terms of the preliminary discussions since he was in high school. He became the top pick with the Lakers [at No. 2] and the Lakers were looking to get back to their glory. So the story was another telenovela. It was a great story and played out in front of 20,000 of his closest friends.
Was Lonzo’s debut the first Summer League sellout?
Warren LeGarie:
“I think so. Don’t quote me on that even though you’re interviewing me [laughs]. But I believe that’s what it was. That was where people realized you should buy your tickets, or you’ll miss out on the action.”
How did you process that at the time that a summer league game could sell out?
Warren LeGarie:
“You can always do revisionist history and say, ‘I knew it was going to happen.’ We had no idea this would happen. People were on the third level. That never happened. For us, you keep your head down, you work hard and always believe that good things will happen. But that was a moment that Albert [Hall, his business partner] and I looked at each other, embraced and said, ‘Man, it’s working. What we’re doing is working.’ Then we put our heads back down and worked our asses off for the rest of the time. There are moments you celebrate that you never anticipated and never expected."
"Our first year [in 2004], there were only a handful of people in the gym. It was family and friends. But like always, if you believe in something enough and you put enough effort and you make people believe if you’re going to say something, then you’re going to do it, you start building an appreciative audience. Most importantly, you build an audience that returns every year. We have so many people come back and say, ‘I was here for this, and I was here for that.’ That’s very satisfying to know this product has made them want to come back."
"There will always be a Kent Bazemore out there cradling his trophy that ultimately changes his life. He got a trophy with Golden State at Summer League [in 2013], and he got a guaranteed deal from it. We used the tagline: ‘Summer matters.’ He epitomized that. For summer league, this changed his life. That’s the fun part about it. Every year, we’re like the ‘Capistrano for Swallows.’ Everybody always finds a way back here. This put all eyes on him with that championship game. The whole world was riveted, and people realized this guy has an NBA talent. He was able to physically and emotionally carry his team."
"Summer League has changed my life. It changed Albert Hall’s life. He’s the smartest guy in the gym. It’s changed a lot of people’s lives because we believe in it. What it has to offer? It expands your consciousness. It expands your knowledge about the game. But it also opens doors. If you have a dream, who is going to stop you? Only your fears. Lose your fears. Come to Summer League and believe in all of your possibilities.”
Mark Medina is an NBA insider for Sportskeeda. Follow him on X, Instagram, Facebook and Threads.