The NBA’s relationship with the D-League continues to grow and this season a total of 19 NBA teams have one-to-one affiliations with D-League clubs. Those NBA organizations without their own affiliates were required to assign players to D-League teams associated with other NBA franchises. D-League teams could volunteer to take on the assigned players, and if no volunteers emerged, the players were assigned at random.
This significant change from the 2014/15 season came about after the Pacers purchased the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and turned them into their one-to-one partner for the 2015/16 campaign. Other NBA teams have interest in following suit in the years ahead, and the NBA’s ultimate goal for the D-League is for all 30 NBA franchises to have their own D-League squads. You can view the complete list of D-League affiliates here.
We at Hoops Rumors will be recapping the D-League-related activity for the 2015/16 campaign for each team and we’ll begin with the the Atlanta Hawks, one of the 11 NBA franchises without their own D-League affiliate:
The Hawks made 18 assignments for the 2015/16 campaign, sending three different players to the D-League for a total of 122 days (and counting). Atlanta sent the majority of their assignees (14 out of the 18) to the Spurs’ affiliate in Austin, which is only logical given the similarities between the two teams’ systems. The Hawks also made three assignments to the Canton Charge, who are the Cavaliers’ affiliate, and one to the Bakersfield Jam, who are affiliated with the Suns.
Listed below are all the assignments and recalls made by the Hawks for the 2015/16 campaign:
- November 11th: Assigned Edy Tavares (1st) [Austin Spurs] — Recalled November 15th
- November 13th: Assigned Lamar Patterson (1st) [Austin Spurs] — Recalled November 15th
- December 3rd: Assigned Edy Tavares (2nd) [Canton Charge] — Recalled December 6th
- December 3rd: Assigned Tim Hardaway Jr. (1st) [Canton Charge] — Recalled December 6th
- December 5th: Assigned Lamar Patterson (2nd) [Austin Spurs] — Recalled December 6th
- December 17th: Assigned Edy Tavares (3rd) [Austin Spurs] — Recalled December 21st
- December 28th: Assigned Tim Hardaway Jr. (2nd) [Austin Spurs] — Recalled January 3rd
- December 30th: Assigned Edy Tavares (4th) [Austin Spurs] — Recalled December 31st
- January 13th: Assigned Lamar Patterson (3rd) [Austin Spurs] — Recalled January 16th
- January 13th: Assigned Edy Tavares (5th) [Austin Spurs] — Recalled January 17th
- January 27th: Assigned Edy Tavares (6th) [Austin Spurs] — Recalled February 1st
- February 8th: Assigned Edy Tavares (7th) [Austin Spurs] — Recalled February 12th
- February 26th: Assigned Lamar Patterson (4th) [Austin Spurs] — Recalled February 28th
- February 26th: Assigned Edy Tavares (8th) [Austin Spurs] — Recalled February 28th
- March 1st: Assigned Lamar Patterson (5th) [Canton Charge] — Recalled March 25th
- March 2nd: Assigned Edy Tavares (9th) [Bakersfield Jam] — Recalled March 4th
- March 6th: Assigned Edy Tavares (10th) [Austin Spurs]
- March 29th: Assigned Lamar Patterson (6th) [Austin Spurs]
Here is how the Hawks’ players performed while on assignment to the D-League this season:
- Tim Hardaway Jr. — In five combined appearances, the shooting guard averaged 18.8 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 26.9 minutes per contest. His shooting line on the season is .413/.324/.882.
- Lamar Patterson — In 19 combined appearances, Patterson notched averages of 12.8 points, 4.0 rebounds and 4.3 assists in 26.9 minutes per night. The swingman’s slash line is .432/.257/.783.
- Edy Tavares — In 29 combined appearances, the center averaged 9.2 points, 8.4 rebounds, 0.4 assists and 3.3 blocks in 21.6 minutes per outing. His slash line is .652/.000/.707.