The NBA D-League conducted its expansion draft today, allowing the league’s three new teams to add the rights to 12 players apiece. The league’s previously-existing 19 teams had been permitted to retain the rights to 10 players each, leaving the rest of their players unprotected and free to be drafted, as Chris Reichert of UpsideMotor.com explained earlier today.
As we noted on Tuesday, the D-League’s three new franchises this year are affiliates for the Nets (Long Island Nets), Hornets (Greensboro Swarm), and Bulls (Windy City Bulls).
The players those three teams added today won’t necessarily play for them this season — in fact, it’s somewhat rare for expansion draftees to suit up for their new clubs, as D-League Digest tweets. Many of those players will try to catch on with an NBA team or will end up playing overseas. Still, the expansion draft gives the D-League’s new teams some assets as they start to build their rosters for the coming season.
Per Reichert, here are the results of today’s expansion draft. The player’s former D-League team is noted in parentheses, and picks are ordered by round. The teams will hold their players’ rights for the next two seasons:
Long Island Nets (Twitter link)
- Gary Forbes (Grand Rapids Drive)
- Carrick Felix (Santa Cruz Warriors)
- Jamaal Franklin (Los Angeles D-Fenders)
- Akil Mitchell (Rio Grande Valley Vipers)
- Peyton Siva (Delaware 87ers)
- Alex Kirk (Canton Charge)
- Austin Freeman (Westchester Knicks)
- Kendall Gray (Iowa Energy)
- Lazar Hayward (Los Angeles D-Fenders)
- Dwayne Polee Jr. (Reno Bighorns)
- Matt Bouldin (Fort Wayne Mad Ants)
- Lewis Jackson (Salt Lake City Stars)
Greensboro Swarm (Twitter link)
- Josh Davis (Austin Spurs)
- Abdul Gaddy (Maine Red Claws)
- Tony Bishop (Rio Grande Valley Vipers)
- Scotty Hopson (Sioux Falls Skyforce)
- Toure’ Murry (Sioux Falls Skyforce)
- Rodney Williams (Oklahoma City Blue)
- Josh Huestis (Oklahoma City Blue)
- Ralston Turner (Grand Rapids Drive)
- Keanau Post (Raptors 905)
- Damien Wilkins (Iowa Energy)
- Kris Joseph (Westchester Knicks)
- Dee Bost (Raptors 905)
Windy City Bulls (Twitter link)
- Wesley Saunders (Austin Spurs)
- Kiwi Gardner (Santa Cruz Warriors)
- Ralph Sampson III (Maine Red Claws)
- Booker Woodfox (Texas Legends)
- Jerel McNeal (Northern Arizona Suns)
- Akeem Richmond (Reno Bighorns)
- Casey Prather (Northern Arizona Suns)
- Jon Octeus (Canton Charge)
- Justin Dentmon (Texas Legends)
- Jamal Jones (Delaware 87ers)
- Xavier Thames (Fort Wayne Mad Ants)
- Ian Chiles (Salt Lake City Stars)