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 Minnesota Timberwolves, one of the 11 NBA franchises without their own D-League affiliate:
The Wolves made 2 assignments for the 2015/16 season, sending two players to the D-League for a total of 23 days. Listed below are all the assignments and recalls made by Minnesota for the 2015/16 campaign:
- December 5th: Assigned Tyus Jones (1st) [Idaho Stampede] — Recalled December 22nd
- January 25th: Assigned Adreian Payne (1st) [Erie BayHawks] — Recalled February 1st
Here’s how Minnesota’s players performed while on assignment to the D-League this season:
- Tyus Jones: In six appearances the point guard averaged 24.7 points, 3.8 rebounds and 5.0 assists in 35.2 minutes per outing. Jones’ shooting line was .487/.426/.923.
- Adreian Payne: In three appearance Payne averaged 26.3 points, 9.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists in 35.1 minutes per contest. His shooting line was .444/.286/.808.