Atlanta Hawks

The Atlanta Hawks are a professional basketball team based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The Hawks play their home games at Philips Arena.

The team's origins can be traced to the establishment of the Tri-Cities Blackhawks in 1946, a member of the National Basketball League and owned by Ben Kerner. In 1949, they joined the National Basketball Association (NBA) as part of the National Basketball League and the Basketball Association of America merger, and had Red Auerbach as coach briefly. In 1951, Kerner moved the team moved to Milwaukee, where they changed their name to the Hawks. Kerner and the team moved again in 1955 to St. Louis, where they won their only NBA championship in 1958 and made the NBA Finals in 1957 and 1960. The Hawks played the Boston Celtics in all three of their trips to the NBA Finals. The St. Louis Hawks moved to Atlanta in 1968, when Kerner sold the franchise to Thomas Cousins and former Georgia Governor Carl Sanders. .

Atlanta

Atlanta is the capital of and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia, with an estimated 2013 population of 447,841. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, home to 5,522,942 people and the ninth largest metropolitan area in the United States. Atlanta is the county seat of Fulton County, and a small portion of the city extends eastward into DeKalb County.

Atlanta was established in 1837 at the intersection of two railroad lines, and the city rose from the ashes of the American Civil War to become a national center of commerce. In the decades following the Civil Rights Movement, during which the city earned a reputation as "too busy to hate" for the progressive views of its citizens and leaders, Atlanta attained international prominence. Atlanta is the primary transportation hub of the Southeastern United States, via highway, railroad, and air, with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being the world's busiest airport since 1998.

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.