Phoenix Suns

The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division, and are the only team in their division not to be based in California. Since 1992, the Suns have played their home games at Talking Stick Resort Arena in downtown Phoenix.

The Suns began play as an expansion team in 1968. The franchise owns the NBA's fourth-best all-time winning percentage, winning 55 percent of its games, as of the end of the 2014–15 season. In 47 years of play, they have made the playoffs 29 times, posted 19 seasons of 50 or more wins, made nine trips to the Western Conference Finals, and advanced to the NBA Finals twice, in 1976 and 1993. As a result, based on their all-time win-loss percentage, the Suns are the team with the highest winning percentage to have never won an NBA championship.

With the National Hockey League's Phoenix Coyotes changing their geographic location name to Arizona on June 27, 2014 (which was required as part of their new Gila River Arena lease agreement), the Suns are the only men's major professional sports franchise based in the state of Arizona that brands themselves exclusively to the city of Phoenix rather than the state as a whole.

NBA Summer League

The NBA Summer League is a series of off-season competitions during which National Basketball Association teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regular season line-ups. Typically consisting of a mix of rookies, second year players, and unsigned free agents, the current summer league consists of three separate leagues: the Las Vegas Summer League, the Utah Jazz Summer League, and the Orlando Pro Summer League.

History

Summer leagues have existed for decades. Historically, there was not an organized structure, with leagues sometimes overlapping and not officially coordinated. In 2004, the league held the Las Vegas Summer League for the first time; it is by far the largest league, with 23 NBA teams plus an NBA Development League all-star team participating as of 2015.

The Orlando Pro Summer League has been held since 2001. The Utah Jazz Summer League began play in 2015, replacing the Rocky Mountain Revue, an event held from 1984–2008 before going on a lengthy hiatus due to declining participation.

MGM Resorts International

MGM Resorts International is a Paradise, Nevada based gaming, hospitality and entertainment company. It generated about $9.8 billion in 2013. It owns and operates 15 properties in Nevada, Mississippi, and Michigan, and has 50% investments in four other properties in Nevada, Illinois and Macau, China.

The company began operations in 1987 as MGM Grand, Inc., and became MGM Mirage in 2000, after acquiring Mirage Resorts. In the mid-2000s, growth of its non-gaming (lodging, food, retail) revenue began to outpace gaming receipts and demand for high-rise condominiums was surging, with median property prices in Las Vegas twice the national average. The company shifted its business model from fully owning and operating resorts and casinos, to being more real estate focused—launching the massive CityCenter mixed-use project. However, the latter's development coincided with vast overbuilding on the Strip and a global financial crisis, causing large losses and writedowns in valuation.

National Basketball Association

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America, and is widely considered to be the premier men's professional basketball league in the world. It has 30 franchised member clubs (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada), and is an active member of USA Basketball (USAB), which is recognized by FIBA (also known as the International Basketball Federation) as the national governing body for basketball in the United States. The NBA is one of the four major North American professional sports leagues. NBA players are the world's best paid sportsmen, by average annual salary per player.

The league was founded in New York City on June 6, 1946, as the Basketball Association of America (BAA). The league adopted the name National Basketball Association on August 3, 1949, after merging with its rival National Basketball League (NBL). The league's several international as well as individual team offices are directed out of its head offices located in the Olympic Tower at 645 Fifth Avenue in New York City. NBA Entertainment and NBA TV studios are directed out of offices located in Secaucus, New Jersey.

Sacramento Kings

The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the only team in the major professional North American sports leagues located in Sacramento; the team plays its home games at Sleep Train Arena.

The Kings are the oldest franchise in the NBA, and one of the oldest continuously operating professional basketball franchises in the nation. They originated in Rochester, New York as the Rochester Seagrams (a company team) in 1923 and joined the National Basketball League in 1945 as the "Rochester Royals". They jumped to the Basketball Association of America, forerunner of the NBA, in 1948. As the Royals, the team was often successful on the court, winning the NBA championship in 1951. However, they found it increasingly difficult to turn a profit in the comparatively small market of Rochester, and relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio in 1957, becoming the Cincinnati Royals. In 1972, the team relocated to Kansas City, Missouri, initially splitting their games between Kansas City and Omaha, Nebraska, and taking up the name Kansas City Kings. The team again failed to find success in that market, and moved to Sacramento in 1985.