Meet the Washington State grad who helped launch the NBA’s ‘31st franchise,’ Las Vegas Summer League

By Theo Lawson, Sports Reporter

LAS VEGAS – Albert Hall’s daily schedule at NBA Summer League is busy enough, and that’s before you factor in the different fires he’s extinguishing from the time he wakes up until he finally shuts his eyes, usually an hour or two past midnight.

Metaphoric fires, of course, but when you hear what the average day looks like for Hall and everything it encompasses, you probably wouldn’t rule anything out.

For example, the evening portion of Hall’s agenda on July 13 begins when he’s called to help with a medical emergency. He doesn’t disclose what happened, but it required a 911 call and ambulance dispatch to the area on UNLV’s campus that’s become a summer hoops mecca for NBA players, coaches, owners, general managers, staff members, scouts, fans and virtually anyone else who wants a piece of what Hall and Vegas Summer League co-founder Warren LeGarie have built over the last two decades.

Moments after the ambulance leaves, another crisis already has Hall’s attention. A few fans are trying to get into Thomas & Mack Center with artificial tickets. Hall can’t count the number he’s confiscated over the years.

Next, he’s meeting with an unnamed NBA owner who’s hoping to book court time for his kid to practice the next morning. Then it’s off to dinner at the Palms Casino Hardwood Suite. Hall doesn’t eat, of course – too busy connecting, networking, schmoozing – so by the time he’s finished at the Palms, he still needs to put something in his stomach. Hall returns to his hotel room, responds to e-mails and hits the pillow sometime between 12:30-1 a.m., anticipating a 6:30 a.m. wakeup call the next day.

This is merely what night five at 2026 Vegas Summer League looks like for Hall, a Tacoma native who graduated from Washington State University’s Murrow School of Communication in 1991. If he also had to walk a visiting reporter through the events of the morning and afternoon, it would require an additional 30 minutes Hall simply doesn’t have in his day.

“An average day for me is kind of insane,” he said. “… When the ball goes up, it’s like phew, sigh of relief, we’re playing. Then a whole new series of problems start.”

It comes with everything Hall and LeGarie have built at Vegas Summer League, which continues to shatter attendance, television rating and merchandise records in its 22nd year of existence.

Earlier this month, the two-week event reported 156,000 total attendees, signifying a 12% increase from the year prior. The championship game, which pitted Washington State’s Cedric Coward and the Memphis Grizzlies against Gonzaga’s Graham Ike and the Golden State Warriors, set a record with 676,000 average viewers on ESPN. Vegas Summer League also saw an 11% increase in merchandise sales from the previous record in 2024.

“We’ve got to continue to move the needle,” Hall said. “We freshen things every year. As (NBA Commissioner) Adam (Silver) says … the Vegas Summer League is our 31st franchise, and we run it that way.”