1)      New Orleans and No. 1 overall NBA draft pick Zion Williamson will make their summer league game debut Friday on national TV, facing the New York Knicks at 8:30 p.m. Central. The game will be broadcast on ESPN, as well as locally on radio by ESPN New Orleans (100.3 FM). Williamson discussed Friday’s opening game and matchup vs. Duke teammate R.J. Barrett after practice yesterday.

2)      All 30 NBA teams are participating in the Las Vegas summer league, plus national teams representing China and Croatia. Among those 32 teams, eight will qualify for the single-elimination tournament that begins July 13. Pool play consists of four games per team, meaning a team will likely need to go at least 3-1 to have a chance to advance. This is a significant change from the previous format, in which every team automatically qualified for the single-elimination tournament.

3)      The Pelicans’ summer league roster includes players from a wide range of basketball backgrounds. A guard from Japan, Makoto Hiejima is experiencing NBA competition for the first time and spoke to Pelicans.com after Thursday’s practice.

4)      In addition to Williamson, the New Orleans summer roster also features several players quite familiar to Pelicans fans, such as Frank Jackson, Christian Wood, Trevon Bluiett and Kenrich Williams. “Kenny Hustle” discussed some of his goals in Las Vegas yesterday.

5)      Watch practice highlights from the summer Pelicans.