Summer Basketball is Back, “Big Time”

Coronavirus may have ravaged the world but you can’t keep good summer basketball down. The Nike EYBL and other leagues may have shuttered its doors for the summer but one tournament is apparently open for business.

“We are definitely doing the Las Vegas Bigtime Tourney,” said CEO/CFO Gary Charles who runs the yearly event. This season’s tournament is scheduled to run July 22 to the 26th at the Las Vegas Basketball Center.

The Big time Tournament has already attracted big time teams and players according to Charles. “Grassroots Sizzle (MN) with #1 player Chet Holmgren has committed.” Additionally, Charles said he’s received commitments from Nike EYBL teams including Team Durant, Vegas Elite, Russel Westbrook’s Team Why Not, E1T1 (FL) and Team CP25 with top player Moussa Diabate.

Under Amour Teams including Team Breakdown (FL) and Team Curry will also be in attendance. The only confirmed New York teams are Heat Elite and Team New York.

How’s the LV Bigtime Tourney getting it done? “The [Las Vegas] governor has already started Phase 2,” said Charles. “By the time we start it should be Phase 3 or 4.”

Charles said that measures will be implemented to protect players and fans during this COVID-19 pandemic. “We will extend the time between games to leave [more] time for cleaning up. We will institute [face] masks for anyone who enters the gym.”

Attendance will also be monitored. “If we were to start right now, the limit would be 50 people per court.” Charles added that they are in talks with the Las Vegas Convention with regard to providing volunteers to help sanitizer and clean.

There will be sanitizers available and everyone’s temperature will be taken before people enter the gym. “I may have to limit the amount of teams,” said Charles.

While the dates of the tournament are not during a live period, Charles said that live streams will be available for all games.