BYU Basketball: Elijah Bryant on Philadelphia’s summer league roster

Elijah Bryant is on the Philadelphia 76ers summer league roster. The BYU Basketball standout now has to earn minutes and make the most of the opportunity.

Former BYU Basketball star Elijah Bryant will get a shot to prove himself in Sin City.

Earlier this week, Bryant was invited to participate in the Philadelphia 76ers’ summer league minicamp, and now, according to nba.com, he’s made the summer league roster.

The 76ers will compete in the Las Vegas summer league, which starts Friday and runs through July 17. Philadelphia will play at least four games, and could play as many as eight.

Each team participating in the summer league plays three games before a single-elimination tournament. The 76ers’ three games are:

• vs. Boston Celtics (Friday, July 6th at 7:30pm ET, ESPN)
• vs. Los Angeles Lakers (Saturday, July 7th at 11:30pm ET, ESPN)
• vs. Washington Wizards (Monday, July 9th at 5:30pm ET, NBAtv)

For Bryant, his first job will be to earn playing time in Las Vegas. That won’t be easy, considering that Philadelphia’s summer league roster has seven players that either have guaranteed NBA contracts or were drafted by the 76ers.

Those players will get the first crack at summer league minutes, since the organization already has a vested interest in those players.

For the rest of the players on the roster, they’ll be competing in practices to earn whatever minutes are still available. Usually, each player on the roster gets into at least one game during the summer league, but if Bryant wants to play more than a few minutes in one game, he’ll have to stand out in practices.

This summer league opportunity is huge for Bryant as he chases his professional dreams. If he excels in his opportunity to play, he could earn a two-way contract with an NBA team. More likely, though, he’ll impress a team enough to sign a G-League contract.

That’s the route that former Cougar Kyle Collinsworth took, and he realized his NBA dream with the Dallas Mavericks.

Bryant’s other option would be to head overseas, playing professionally there like a handful of former BYU standouts like Jimmer Fredette, Brandon Davies, Eric Mika, Charles Abouo, and Matt Carlino.

His best opportunity to reach his goal of playing in the NBA, however, starts with a strong showing in Las Vegas.