The Summer Pro League, officially known as The Southern California Summer Pro League (SPL) is a basketball league held every summer in Long Beach, California where first and second round draft picks in the NBA are able to improve their skills. It is also a place where undrafted players are able to showcase their talents in hopes of garnering a spot on a pro basketball team. Since its inception in 1969, every NBA team has sent players to the league with over 800 players having participated in it.
The SPL moved to the Walter Pyramid on the campus of California State University, Long Beach in 1995. Before then, it was held at various sites in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area, including UCLA, Loyola Marymount University, and Pepperdine University.
Notable alumni include Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, and many others.
In 2007, no NBA team sent players to the league. This was due to a conflict with the schedule of the adidas Vegas Summer League, at which 22 NBA teams participated. But Gino Kwok, one of the SPL's owners, told the Long Beach Press-Telegram that he hoped that NBA teams would return in 2008. Before '07, the last year without an NBA team in the SPL was 1998, during the league's extended lockout that summer.
Famous quotes containing the words summer, pro and/or league:
“‘Twas a balmy summer evening, and a goodly crowd was there.
Which well-nigh filled Joe’s barroom on the corner of the square,”
—Hugh Antoine D’Arcy (1843–1925)
“The upbeat lawyer/negotiator of preadolescence has become a real pro by now—cynical, shrewd, a tough cookie. You’re constantly embroiled in a match of wits. You’re exhausted.”
—Ron Taffel (20th century)
“He will deliver you from six troubles; in seven no harm shall touch you. In famine he will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword. You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, and shall not fear destruction when it comes. At destruction and famine you shall laugh, and shall not fear the wild animals of the earth. For you shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the wild animals shall be at peace with you.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Job 5:19-23.