NBA D-League President Malcolm Turner said that the league is "considering Las Vegas as a future stop" for the Showcase Cup even though the city "does not have a team," according to Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com. The move "would deepen ties between" the NBA and the city, and Las Vegas’ relationship with the NBA as the site of the biggest of the three summer leagues is an "obvious selling point." But moving the event to Vegas "doesn’t grow the brand where the D-League needs to grow." Turner: “It’s one that we’re exploring. It’s too early to say whether or not that is a strong possibility, but I think there are a lot of reasons why we would find it an attractive market to go to. Obviously that would work counter to … our teams hosting the Showcase. But Vegas is an interesting market for a lot of reasons" (NBA.com, 1/19). Meanwhile, in California, Glenn Cravens notes there was "so much praise for Santa Cruz" as the host city for the inaugural Showcase Cup that he wondered whether the D-League "hasn't already sealed up a return trip here" for '16. Cravens: "To hear NBA scouts and reporters outside of the area say they enjoyed Santa Cruz (one example) as the D-League destination was awesome." The league likely will "want to promote western Michigan and New York, given that they just expanded to those places." Still, Cravens hopes Santa Cruz "gets another chance" (SALINAS CALIFORNIAN, 1/20).
