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 Indiana Pacers, whose D-League affiliate is the Fort Wayne Mad Ants:
The Pacers made 13 assignments for the 2015/16 season, sending four players to the D-League for a total of 294 days. Listed below are all the assignments and recalls made by Indiana for the 2015/16 campaign:
- November 2nd: Assigned Rakeem Christmas (1st) — Recalled December 31st
- November 2nd: Assigned Shayne Whittington (1st) — Recalled December 27th
- December 11th: Assigned Joe Young (1st) — Recalled December 14th
- December 27th: Assigned Glenn Robinson III (1st) — Recalled December 28th
- December 27th: Assigned Joe Young (2nd) — Recalled December 28th
- December 28th: Assigned Shayne Whittington (2nd) — Recalled December 31st
- January 1st: Assigned Rakeem Christmas (2nd) — Recalled January 30th
- January 25th: Assigned Shayne Whittington (3rd) — Recalled January 25th
- January 30th: Assigned Shayne Whittington (4th) — Recalled February 3rd
- February 2nd: Assigned Rakeem Christmas (3rd) — Recalled April 3rd
- February 8th: Assigned Shayne Whittington (5th) — Recalled March 15th
- March 16th: Assigned Shayne Whittington (5th) — Recalled March 16th
- March 20th: Assigned Shayne Whittington (6th) — Recalled April 3rd
Here is how the Pacers’ players performed while on assignment to the D-League this season:
- Rakeem Christmas: In 48 appearances, Christmas averaged 13.9 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in 30.1 minutes per night. His shooting line was .473/.250/.732.
- Glenn Robinson III: The forward appeared in one contest and scored 11 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out two assists in 41 minutes of action.
- Shayne Whittington: In 41 appearances, Whittington averaged 12.1 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 30.8 minutes per contest. His shooting line was .429/.310/.816.
- Joe Young: In three appearances, Young averaged 24.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 34.9 minutes per game. His shooting line was .433/.636/.933.