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G League To Launch Franchise In Mexico Next Season

May 6th, 2021 at 5:24pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The NBA G League will launch its new franchise in Mexico City next season, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets. The team’s nickname is the Capitanes.

Nick Lagios, who has worked for the Lakers‘ South Bay affiliate since 2016, will serve as the team’s GM, Charania adds. Lagios expressed his excitement about running the franchise in an Instagram post.

“It’s an absolute dream to be named the first GM of the Mexico City Capitanes. We will play in the (G League) starting next season,” Lagios wrote. “This is the first Mexican team ever in a USA sports league, which is an honor to be a part of. I hope we can make all of Mexico and Latin America proud and elevate basketball within central and South America. Laker family, I will miss you all but I won’t be leaving LA quite yet!!”

The original announcement that the NBA would add a G League franchise in Mexico City was made in December 2019. The pandemic pushed back the inaugural season by one year.

The Capitanes will play their home games at Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera, an arena that holds about 5,000 fans, and will spend at least the next five years in the G League. They  won’t be affiliated with a specific NBA franchise.

By bringing aboard a franchise like Capitanes that has an existing infrastructure – including a home arena and an ownership group – the NBA was able to expedite the process.

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Emoni Bates Decommits From Michigan State

May 1st, 2021 at 1:46pm CST by JD Shaw

Five-star prospect Emoni Bates, widely considered to be the top player in the Class of 2022, has announced that he has decommitted from Michigan State and re-opened his recruitment. Bates made the announcement in an Instagram post on Friday night.

“I would like to thank (head coach) Tom Izzo and the coaching staff at Michigan State but I have decided to reopen my recruitment,” Bates wrote. “I’m not sure what my future holds but I am keeping all of my options open, both college and pro.”

Bates, a 6’8″ forward, could attend another college, head overseas, or play in the NBA G League with the Ignite. Many industry and coaching sources believe he would be open to playing in the G League for a year, Jeff Borzello of ESPN.com reports.

The Ignite recently landed five-star prospect Michael Foster Jr. and top Chinese prospect Fanbo Zeng, with more young athletes expected to be added in the coming months. Projected high-lottery picks Jalen Green and Jonathan Kuminga were among those who played for the team this past season.

“Let’s just put it like this. Whatever options that are available to him, we will lay them out and present them to him, but the ultimate decision is his,” Bates’ father, Elgin, said of his son’s situation back in March, according to Adam Zagoria of Forbes.com.

“If the G League is something he wants to do, if he decides that’s what he wants to do, that’s perfectly fine. He can do the G League. If Michigan State is what he wants to do, that’s perfectly fine. If he wants to entertain going overseas, that’s perfectly fine. If he just wants to sit out and train for a year, it’s whatever he wants to do. It’s his decision.”

Bates, 17, currently projects to be the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NBA draft.

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Grand Rapids To Be Nuggets’ New G League Affiliate

April 27th, 2021 at 12:18pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Nuggets will have a G League affiliate starting next season, the team announced in a press release. Denver will partner with the Grand Rapids Drive, which was previously affiliated with the Pistons.

The G League team will be a hybrid affiliate, which means the Nuggets will control basketball operations, while the Drive’s current ownership, led by Steve Jbara, will conduct business operations and community engagement. The team will unveil a new name in the next few weeks.

News of the arrangement was first reported in February.

“We are extremely excited about this partnership and look forward to what the future holds for our franchises,” said Nuggets president of basketball operations Tim Connelly. “We know that Grand Rapids is an excellent organization and the collaboration we can have with our own G League team is something that will be hugely beneficial to our players, staff and organization. It’s just a great situation for all parties involved.”

The Drive’s partnership with the Pistons ended last year when the Suns sold their G League affiliate to Detroit. The Northern Arizona Suns will move to Detroit next season and will be called the Motor City Cruise. The Drive had to search for a new affiliate and were reluctant to leave the city that they have called home since 2014.

The Nuggets, meanwhile, have sought to establish a G League team for years, according to Mike Singer of The Denver Post, who notes that the team has considered cities like Las Vegas, Seattle, Nashville, San Diego, and Omaha. Roadblocks such as local ownership issues or building restrictions always got in the way.

The Nuggets’ new affiliate will be located several states away, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which won’t necessarily allow for constant shuttling of players back and forth between the NBA and G League teams. But it will give Denver an opportunity to develop its young players first-hand at the NBAGL level.

“I couldn’t be more thrilled to announce our partnership with Denver and am excited to welcome the Nuggets to Michigan and the Grand Rapids family,” Jbara said.  “This partnership is a true testament to the Nuggets’ commitment to development and we’re so happy to be able to help the team continue those initiatives in Grand Rapids for years to come.”

With today’s announcement, Phoenix and Portland will be the only NBA teams without a direct G League affiliate for 2021/22.

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China’s Top Prospect To Join Ignite

April 24th, 2021 at 3:59pm CST by Dana Gauruder

China’s top prospect, Fanbo Zeng, has opted to join the G League’s Ignite team, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reports.

Zeng, an 18-year-old 6’10” forward, originally committed to national championship runner-up Gonzaga. He’ll now pursue his NBA dream in the Ignite program, which was designed for top prospects that didn’t want to go the one-and-done route in college.

Zeng, who will be eligible for the 2022 draft, is no stranger to the U.S. He played for Windermere (Fla.) Prep from 2018-20 after moving from China the previous year and was ranked as a four-star prospect.

He was recruited to the Zags by assistant coach Tommy Lloyd, who left Gonzaga to become Arizona’s head coach.

Zeng is the second highly-regarded forward to commit to the Ignite for next season. Five-star recruit Michael Foster Jr. signed with the Ignite on Friday.

The inaugural Ignite featured Jonathan Kuminga and Jalen Green, two of the top five prospects in this year’s NBA draft. However, The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie said in Charania’s story that Zeng is more of a “long-term project” than a surefire first-rounder next year.

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Michael Foster Jr. Signs With G League Ignite

April 23rd, 2021 at 3:42pm CST by Luke Adams

The G League Ignite has secured its first prospect for the 2021/22 season, announcing today in a press release that 6’8″ forward Michael Foster Jr. has signed with the team.

Foster, a five-star recruit, is listed by ESPN as the seventh-best prospect in this year’s high school class. He was named a McDonald’s All-American earlier this year after averaging 32.2 points and 18.4 rebounds per game as a senior at Hillcrest Prep in Phoenix.

“I’m super ready to learn the NBA game and train like an NBA player from NBA guys while playing for NBA G League Ignite,” Foster said.

Foster also considered committing to Florida State or Georgia or playing for a year overseas, but ultimately opted for the G League’s professional path, writes Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. A source tells Spears that the young forward is expected to earn a salary in the $300K range.

The Ignite’s first season was thrown off track to some extent by the coronavirus pandemic, so we should get a better sense in ’21/22 of what a typical season will look like for the club, which will once again be made up of a combination of top prospects and veteran mentors.

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And-Ones: Wright-Foreman, B. Johnson, Canada, Banchero

April 21st, 2021 at 10:44am CST by Luke Adams

A pair of former NBA players who were on two-way contracts during the 2019/20 season have signed new contracts overseas.

Point guard Justin Wright-Foreman, the 53rd overall pick in the 2019 draft, has joined Chorale Roanne Basket in France for the remainder of the season, the team said in a press release. Wright-Foreman spent all of ’19/20 on a two-way deal with the Jazz, but appeared in just four games and wasn’t retained in the fall. He played for the Erie BayHawks in the G League bubble this winter.

Meanwhile, small forward B.J. Johnson, who appeared in 10 games last season while on a two-way contract with Orlando, has inked a rest-of-season contract with the Brisbane Bullets, the Australian team announced. Like Wright-Foreman, Johnson hasn’t played in the NBA at all in 2020/21, but participated in the NBAGL bubble, averaging 18.4 PPG and 5.6 RPG in 14 games (31.1 MPG) for the Long Island Nets.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

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NBA G League Elite Camp To Take Place June 19-21

April 16th, 2021 at 2:43pm CST by Luke Adams

After having to cancel it in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the NBA will once again hold its G League Elite Camp prior to the draft combine this year, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link), who says the event will take place from June 19-21. The combine will follow, in the same location, from June 21-27.

In 2019, after the NBA revamped it, the Elite Camp consisted of 40 NBA G League invitees participating in the first half of the event, followed by 40 top draft-eligible players (who weren’t invited to the actual combine) taking part in the second half. It’s unclear if the format will remain the same this year.

The list of draft-eligible players who took part in the 2019 G League Elite Camp included a handful of prospects who were eventually drafted, such as Terance Mann, Cody Martin, Justin Wright-Foreman, Reggie Perry, and Dewan Hernandez.

Many of the draft-eligible participants in the 2019 Elite Camp also made it to the NBA after going undrafted, including Oshae Brissett, Chris Clemons, Tyler Cook, Tacko Fall, DaQuan Jeffries, Caleb Martin, Justin Robinson, and Max Strus.

Several players from the G League portion of the 2019 Elite Camp – such as Juan Toscano-Anderson, Norvel Pelle, Mychal Mulder, and Jordan McLaughlin – have also played in the NBA during the last couple years.

When the NBA announced its plans for the 2021 draft combine, the league noted that the event will be subject to “evolving health conditions.” It’s safe to say that caveat will apply to the G League Elite Camp as well.

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Knicks’ Jared Harper Looking To Build On All-NBAGL Season

April 9th, 2021 at 7:46am CST by JD Shaw

Knicks two-way guard Jared Harper has shifted his focus to the rest of the 2020/21 NBA season after an impressive stint in the G League bubble, one that earned him an honor few players obtain: a spot on the All-NBA G League First Team.

Harper, a 5’10” point guard who went unselected in the 2019 draft, spent part of last season on a two-way contract with Phoenix before being claimed off waivers by New York in June. After signing a new two-way deal with the Knicks in the offseason, the 23-year-old has seen limited action at the NBA level, but he excelled in the G League with Westchester and is enjoying his time on an NBA roster.

“It’s definitely been a great experience,” Harper told Hoops Rumors in a phone interview. “For one, just being able to be in the NBA. Two, being with an organization as storied as the Knicks and all that goes along with it. Just the opportunity of making history. We’re trying to make a push to continue to stay in the playoff race and go from there. I think there are a lot of positives in this situation.”

In 12 G League contests this season, Harper increased his averages nearly across the board, recording 21.3 points (up from 20.2) and 7.0 assists (up from 5.5) per game. His shooting also improved, going from .413/.362/.787 as an NBAGL rookie to .473/.403/.854 in his second year.

“I just think that next year (helped),” Harper said. “Last year I was able to learn a lot just by playing professional basketball on the fly, even though I was able to play well. But coming into this year, I saw areas that I needed to improve to help me be more efficient — passing the ball, or even scoring.

“Better yet, just trying to win more games. So I think I just took what I did well last year and tried to perfect those things. Plus the things I didn’t do as well, I tried to make better, so everything overall would come together.”

Along with Harper, the G League First Team consisted of Kevin Porter Jr., Mamadi Diakite, Moses Brown, and MVP Paul Reed — all players who are on standard NBA contracts or two-way deals. Every member of the Second Team and Third Team is also under contract with an NBA team or has previous NBA experience. The overall talent level in the bubble made his spot on the First Team this season even more special, Harper said.

“It’s definitely great just knowing how much talent was down in the G League bubble this year,” he explained. “To be recognized as one of the top players down there is just helping me get closer to my goal of being able to play on an NBA court.”

The Knicks have exceeded expectations under head coach Tom Thibodeau this season and currently hold the eighth-best record in the Eastern Conference at 25-27. The team is just two games behind the fourth-seeded Hornets and could make the playoffs for the first time since 2013.

Harper hasn’t received many chances on the court to contribute to the Knicks’ playoff push so far, having appeared in just four NBA games this season. However, he has gotten the opportunity to learn from veteran guards such as Derrick Rose and Alec Burks, and he has remained supportive of his teammates in practices and on the sidelines. The plan now, he says, is to stay ready in case his number gets called on a more regular basis.

“When I get my opportunity with this team, I just want to take full advantage of it,” Harper said. “My main priority is to continue to get better and do anything I can do to help us make it to the playoffs. Whatever that role will be, that’s my main goal.”

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Erie BayHawks Will Cease Operations

April 8th, 2021 at 12:18pm CST by Luke Adams

The Erie BayHawks of the NBA G League won’t return for the 2021/22 season, announcing today in a press release that they’ll cease operations in the coming weeks.

Technically, the franchise now known as the Erie BayHawks will be relocated by the Pelicans for the ’21/22 season to Birmingham, Alabama, where it will be rebranded.

That has happened to two iterations of the BayHawks in the past, as the original team became the Lakeland Magic in 2017 and the second version became the College Park Skyhawks in 2019. In each instance, an expansion team – also known as the BayHawks – continued to play in Erie, having established a new NBA affiliation.

However, the Pelicans turned down their 2021/22 option with Erie as they prepare to move their G League operations to Birmingham. As a result, the BayHawks don’t have an NBA partner lined up for next season, resulting in the decision to halt operations.

“We’ve made the determination that we will cease operations in the coming weeks due to not being unable to find another NBA partner, or other adequate opportunity, to keep G League basketball in Erie,” Erie Basketball Management president Owen McCormick said in a statement. “This result is merely a reflection of the changing landscape of the NBA as many teams prefer their G League affiliate be located nearby, and Erie simply is not positioned geographically to provide that.

“While we’re saddened by this for our fans and the Erie community, we are deeply appreciative of the tremendous support the BayHawks received over the past 13 years. The Erie region can be proud of the history the BayHawks made and the role that Erie played for the NBA during our years in the NBA Development League and NBA G League. We are truly grateful for the community’s amazing support and the fond memories made.”

Currently, the Suns and Trail Blazers are the only two NBA teams that don’t have a G League affiliate in place for the 2021/22 campaign. While it’s possible the BayHawks explored a partnership with one of those teams, neither Phoenix nor Portland is located anywhere close to Erie, Pennsylvania, so it wouldn’t have made for a convenient arrangement.

The BayHawks first entered the G League in 2008. Over the years, the team served as the NBAGL affiliate for the Cavaliers, Sixers, Raptors, Knicks, Magic, Hawks, and Pelicans. The Wizards also used Erie as its affiliate during the 2020/21 season, sharing operating costs with the Pels.

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NBA G League Announces 2020/21 All-NBAGL Teams

March 23rd, 2021 at 3:52pm CST by Luke Adams

After being named the G League’s Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year on Monday, Delaware Blue Coats forward Paul Reed – who is on a two-way contract with the Sixers – headlines the All-NBA G League First Team, as the league announced today in a press release.

Reed was joined on the All-NBAGL first team by MVP runner-up Kevin Porter Jr. of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, as well as Oklahoma City Blue big man Moses Brown, Lakeland Magic forward Mamadi Diakite, and Westchester Knicks guard Jared Harper. All of those players are currently on either standard NBA contracts or two-way deals.

That’s a common theme for this year’s All-NBAGL teams. The majority of the 15 players named to the three squads are either currently under contract with NBA teams or have past NBA experience.

The complete list of the 2020/21 All-NBA G League teams, along with the All-Rookie and All-Defensive squads, is below. Players currently on NBA contracts are noted with an asterisk (*), while those on two-way contracts are noted with a caret (^).

All-NBAGL First Team:

  • Paul Reed (Delaware Blue Coats) ^
  • Kevin Porter Jr. (Rio Grande Valley Vipers) *
  • Moses Brown (Oklahoma City Blue) ^
  • Mamadi Diakite (Lakeland Magic) ^
  • Jared Harper (Westchester Knicks) ^

All-NBAGL Second Team:

All-NBAGL Third Team:

NBAGL All-Rookie Team:

  • Paul Reed (Delaware Blue Coats) ^
  • Mamadi Diakite (Lakeland Magic) ^
  • Malachi Flynn (Raptors 905) *
  • Brodric Thomas (Canton Charge) ^
  • KJ Martin (Rio Grande Valley Vipers) *

NBAGL All-Defensive Team:

  • Paul Reed (Delaware Blue Coats) ^
  • Moses Brown (Oklahoma City Blue) ^
  • Mamadi Diakite (Lakeland Magic) ^
  • Tahjere McCall (Lakeland Magic)
  • Gary Payton II (Raptors 905)

Of the 18 players who earned a spot on one of the G League’s All-NBAGL, All-Rookie, or All-Defensive teams this year, only four – Brissett, Uthoff, McCall, and Payton – haven’t been on some form of standard, two-way, or 10-day NBA contract since the ’20/21 season began. All four of them have previous NBA experience.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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