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 Houston Rockets, whose D-League affiliate is the Rio Grande Valley Vipers:
The Rockets made 18 assignments for the 2015/16 season, sending four players to the D-League for a total of 89 days. Listed below are all the assignments and recalls made by Houston for the 2015/16 campaign:
- November 11th: Assigned K.J. McDaniels (1st) — Recalled November 16th
- Decembe4th: Assigned K.J. McDaniels (2nd) — Recalled December 9th
- December 6th: Assigned Montrezl Harrell (1st) — Recalled December 9th
- December 26th: Assigned K.J. McDaniels (3rd) — Recalled December 28th
- December 26th: Assigned Montrezl Harrell (2nd) — Recalled December 28th
- January 7th: Assigned K.J. McDaniels (4th) — Recalled January 15th
- January 23rd: Assigned Montrezl Harrell (3rd) — Recalled January 30th
- January 23rd: Assigned K.J. McDaniels (5th) — Recalled January 30th
- January 30th: Assigned Donatas Motiejunas (1st) — Recalled February 1st
- January 30th: Assigned K.J. McDaniels (6th) — Recalled February 1st
- February 3rd: Assigned Donatas Motiejunas (2nd) — Recalled February 4th
- February 4th: Assigned Donatas Motiejunas (3rd) — Recalled February 9th
- February 6th: Assigned K.J. McDaniels (7th) — Recalled February 9th
- February 19th: Assigned Sam Dekker (2nd) — Recalled February 22nd
- March 1st: Assigned Sam Dekker (3rd) — Recalled March 5th
- March 4th: Assigned K.J. McDaniels (8th) — Recalled March 5th
- March 4th: Assigned Montrezl Harrell (4th) — Recalled March 5th
- March 23rd: Assigned Montrezl Harrell (5th) — Recalled April 10th
Here is how the Rockets’ players performed while on assignment to the D-League this season:
- Sam Dekker: In seven appearances, Dekker averaged 11.9 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 23.2 minutes. His shooting numbers were .418/.237/.667.
- Montrezl Harrell: In 12 games, Harrell averaged 24.3 points, 9.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 38.9 minutes. His shooting line was .533/.240/.654.
- K.J. McDaniels: In 16 appearances, McDaniels averaged 15.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 36.1 minutes. His shooting numbers were .469/.353/.780.
- Donatas Motiejunas: In four games, Motiejunas averaged 13.0 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 25 minutes per outing. His shooting line was .525/.467/.500.