What: Charlotte Hornets (0-0) vs San Antonio Spurs (0-0)

When: 9:00pm EDT

Where: Thomas & Mack Center; Las Vegas, NV

How to watch: ESPN

New summer league, new start. The Hornets get a chance to exact revenge on the Spurs since the league and the networks want to pit the first two overall picks against each other as much as possible. We were robbed of that in the first meeting with Victor Wembanyama sitting out. He’s back now, so there’s a whole new level of intrigue with this go ’round.

This will be the first time seeing Wembanyama outside of highlight reels for a lot of basketball fans, so I’m interested to see the reaction he gets for his play. I’m expecting people to be underwhelmed if he doesn’t block 14 shots and score 38 points, but it’s hard to see him not making an impact. He’ll surely give the Hornets all kinds of problems when he’s on defense if they continue their haphazard play style.

He’s not the only Spur to watch out for. Dominick Barlow took it to the Hornets in the first match-up, but he laid an egg in the Spurs second game. Julian Champagnie followed up his 30 points against the Hornets with 28 against the Lakers, so he’s basically the superstar in this context. Sidy Cissoko hasn’t made much of a box score impact yet, but I know he’s one Hornets fans have had eyes on.

The Hornets will bring with them the same roster that lost their two California Classic games by a total of 35 points, which almost seems generous given the quality of play. Some young guys have shown flashes, but the team hasn’t been anywhere close to putting it all together.

Brandon Miller put some encouraging things on tape in the California Classic, but you’d like to see some star flashes. The stage gets bigger on ESPN in Las Vegas against the most hyped prospect this decade. Let’s see how he responds.