The Pistons have reached an agreement to purchase the Northern Arizona G League franchise from the Suns, tweets Marc J. Spears of The Athletic. An announcement was made this morning by the Pistons, the Suns, and the G League.
The team will be given a new name and is expected to play in an arena currently under construction at Wayne State University, starting in the 2021/22 season. Grand Rapids will continue to serve as the Pistons’ G League affiliate next season, while the Suns will operate the Northern Arizona franchise for another year (Twitter link).
The Drive plan to stay in their current location and remain in the G League as an unaffiliated team, a source tells James Edwards III of The Athletic (Twitter link). The Trail Blazers and Nuggets are the only other NBA teams without a direct G League affiliate, so it’s possible they could emerge as eventual options for the Drive, Edwards adds (Twitter link).
“The Drive remain committed to the city of Grand Rapids and we look forward to our continued future here in West Michigan within the NBA G League,” the Drive stated in a press release (Twitter link from Rod Beard of The Detroit News). “We’ve begun discussions about the future of our affiliation; details of which we hope to have in the coming weeks. Our focus has been, and will continue to be, providing the people of West Michigan with a great professional basketball experience.”
The Pistons’ contract with the G League team expires after next season, and Grand Rapids officials had said they weren’t interested in moving the franchise to Detroit, according to Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press (Twitter link).
Phoenix GM James Jones released a statement on the deal, saying ownership of the Northern Arizona team “does not align with the Phoenix Suns’ strategic plan for player development over the next three-to-five years,” tweets Adam Johnson of 2 Ways and 10 Days. Jones said the G League team will play in Phoenix next season at an undetermined venue before being sold to the Pistons.
I don’t really understand James Jones’ statement. Why doesn’t it align?
Where is Wayne State university though?
Detroit. Could be a good deal for them.
Everyone is bringing their GL team closer.
Bring it in, take a knee. Just where they’re wanted. /s
Right in Downtown Detroit. Like May 15-20 mins away from the arena
Flagstaff AZ is not really set up to push for growth due to water limitations so this is not deadly for them. Also they have a university there with sports, NAU. It’s a long way to Phoenix, psychically, even logistically… savings for the Suns, convenience for players.
The Grand Rapids area however has nearly a million people nearby with only small-time sports.
Psychically? Lmao
The Northern Arizona Suns actually play in Prescott, which is about halfway between Flagstaff and Phoenix, about and hour and a half from each is where the arena is located, so I’m confused by your whole statement here. This seems to simply be a cash grab by the Suns to flip the team and get a little money and figure the G-League squad out later.
my bad
It’s really ridiculous that there are still NBA teams that do not have a G League affiliate. In my opinion, the best set up for the G League would be to have 36 teams divided into 6 divisions. One for each of the 30 NBA teams and 6 for unaffiliated draft eligible players. The 30 affiliated teams would have all their players assigned to them from the big league teams while the remaining 6 would draft players from a pool of new players and returning players not drafted or signed as UDFAs each year.
If the NBA is really serious about creating a realistic option aside from college, they need to do more than just offer a couple of spots for each team and a “select team” for a handful of prospects.