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 Oklahoma City Thunder, whose D-League affiliate is the Oklahoma City Blue:
The Thunder made 27 assignments for the 2015/16 season, sending three players to the D-League for a total of 98 days. Listed below are all the assignments and recalls made by Oklahoma City for the 2015/16 campaign:
- November 13th: Assigned Josh Huestis (1st) — Recalled November 15th
- November 18th: Assigned Josh Huestis (2nd) — Recalled November 22nd
- November 25th: Assigned Josh Huestis (3rd) — Recalled November 25th
- November 30th: Assigned Josh Huestis (4th) — Recalled December 6th
- November 30th: Assigned Mitch McGary (1st) — Recalled December 6th
- December 5th: Assigned Cameron Payne (1st) — Recalled December 6th
- December 7th: Assigned Mitch McGary (2nd) — Recalled December 10th
- December 11th: Assigned Mitch McGary (3rd) — Recalled December 13th
- December 12th: Assigned Josh Huestis (5th) — Recalled December 13th
- December 14th: Assigned Mitch McGary (4th) — Recalled December 31st
- December 15th: Assigned Josh Huestis (6th) — Recalled December 16th
- December 15th: Assigned Cameron Payne (2nd) — Recalled December 16th
- December 20th: Assigned Josh Huestis (7th) — Recalled December 21st
- January 5th: Assigned Josh Huestis (8th) — Recalled January 8th
- January 22nd: Assigned Mitch McGary (5th) — Recalled January 26th
- January 22nd: Assigned Josh Huestis (9th) — Recalled January 26th
- February 19th: Assigned Mitch McGary (6th) — Recalled February 21st
- February 26th: Assigned Josh Huestis (10th) — Recalled February 27th
- February 26th: Assigned Mitch McGary (7th) — Recalled February 27th
- March 4th: Assigned Josh Huestis (11th) — Recalled March 6th
- March 4th: Assigned Mitch McGary (8th) — Recalled March 6th
- March 7th: Assigned Josh Huestis (12th) — Recalled March 12th
- March 7th: Assigned Mitch McGary (9th) — Recalled March 17th
- March 14th: Assigned Josh Huestis (13th) — Recalled March 22nd
- March 21st: Assigned Mitch McGary (10th) — Recalled March 1st
- March 25th: Assigned Josh Huestis (14th) — Recalled March 26th
- March 31st: Assigned Josh Huestis (15th) — Recalled April 2nd
Here’s how Oklahoma City’s players performed while on assignment to the D-League this season:
- Josh Huestis: In 25 appearances Huestis averaged 12.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 32.1 minutes per outing. His shooting line was .397/.312/.474.
- Mitch McGary: In 26 appearances McGary averaged 14.7 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 24.9 minutes per contest. His shooting numbers were .457/.239/.763.
- Cameron Payne: In two contests Payne averaged 23.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 7.0 assists in 34.0 minutes per night. His shooting line was .439/.429/.833.