The NBA’s relationship with the D-League continues to grow, and this season a total of 19 NBA teams had one-to-one affiliations with D-League clubs. Those NBA organizations without their own affiliates were required to assign players to D-League clubs 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 are recapping the D-League-related activity for the 2015/16 campaign for each team and we’ll continue with the Memphis Grizzlies, whose D-League affiliate is the Iowa Energy:
The Grizzlies made 16 assignments for the 2015/16 season, sending three players to the D-League for a total of 86 days. Listed below are all the assignments and recalls made by Memphis for the 2015/16 campaign:
- December 4th: Assigned James Ennis (1st) — Recalled December 6th
- December 8th: Assigned James Ennis (2nd) — Recalled December 9th
- December 11th: Assigned James Ennis (3rd) — Recalled December 13th
- December 17th: Assigned Jarell Martin (1st) — Recalled December 17th
- December 17th: Assigned Russ Smith (1st) — Recalled December 17th
- December 17th: Assigned James Ennis (4th) — Recalled December 17th
- December 22nd: Assigned James Ennis (5th) — Recalled December 24th
- December 22nd: Assigned Jarell Martin (2nd) — Recalled December 24th
- December 22nd: Assigned Russ Smith (2nd) — Recalled December 24th
- December 27th: Assigned James Ennis (6th) — Recalled January 3rd
- December 28th: Assigned Jarell Martin (3rd) — Recalled January 3rd
- January 15th: Assigned James Ennis (7th) — Recalled February 3rd
- January 25th: Assigned Jarell Martin (4th) — Recalled February 3rd
- February 3rd: Assigned James Ennis (8th) — Recalled February 18th
- February 3rd Assigned Jarell Martin (5th) — Recalled February 9th
- February 25th: Assigned Jarell Martin (6th) — Recalled February 29th
Here is how the Grizzlies’ players performed while on assignment to the D-League this season:
- James Ennis: In 24 appearances Ennis averaged 18.8 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 33.3 minutes per outing. His shooting line was .454/.321/.697.
- Jarell Martin: In 10 appearances Martin averaged 15.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 0.7 assists in 28.9 minutes per contest. His shooting numbers were .492/.286/.565.
- Russ Smith: In 22 combined appearances with Iowa and Delaware (the Sixers’ affiliate), Smith averaged 27.9 points, 5.0 rebounds and 7.8 assists in 37.0 minutes per outing. His shooting line was .460/.304/.778.