NEW YORK, July 7, 2011 – The National Basketball Association and the NBA Development League, the official minor league of the NBA, today announced the affiliation system for the 2011-12 season.
An all-time high nine NBA teams will have single NBA D-League affiliates – more than double last season’s total of four – including first-year partnerships between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Canton, the Golden State Warriors and Dakota Wizards, the New Jersey Nets and Springfield Armor and the New York Knicks and Erie BayHawks, along with the return of the Los Angeles D-Fenders, the Los Angeles Lakers’ single affiliate.
The Sixers will share the Maine Red Claws with Boston and Charlotte.
For the seventh consecutive year, each NBA team has one NBA D-League team to which it may assign players. During the 2010-11 season, the NBA D-League saw all-time highs in NBA player assignments (56), individual players assigned (39) and NBA teams assigning a player (25), while last season marked the first time every NBA D-League team was assigned an NBA player.
“We’re very excited that an all-time-high nine NBA teams will have exclusive, ‘one-to-one’ relationships with their NBA D-League affiliates this coming season,” said NBA D-League President Dan Reed. “This clear trend of NBA teams buying into the NBA D-League is not only a testament to our past success, but also the sign of a very promising future.”
The NBA D-League will again have 16 teams playing in 2011-12, including Canton, which will play its first year in Canton, Ohio, under the ownership of the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Los Angeles D-Fenders, who resume operation under the ownership of the Los Angeles Lakers after taking a one-year hiatus.
Along with Canton and the D-Fenders, the Austin Toros (San Antonio Spurs), Dakota Wizards (Golden State Warriors) and Tulsa 66ers (Oklahoma City Thunder) are fully owned and operated by their NBA affiliates. The Rio Grande Valley Vipers (Houston Rockets), Springfield Armor (New Jersey Nets) and Erie BayHawks (New York Knicks) all have ‘hybrid’ single-affiliation partnerships, where the NBA teams control their NBA D-League affiliates’ basketball operations. Meanwhile, the NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks remain solely affiliated with the Texas Legends.
Seven NBA D-League teams will each have three NBA parent teams: the Bakersfield Jam (Los Angeles Clippers, Phoenix Suns, Toronto Raptors), Fort Wayne Mad Ants (Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks), Idaho Stampede (Denver Nuggets, Portland Trail Blazers, Utah Jazz), Iowa Energy (Chicago Bulls, New Orleans Hornets, Washington Wizards), Maine Red Claws (Boston Celtics, Charlotte Bobcats, Philadelphia 76ers), Reno Bighorns (Atlanta Hawks, Memphis Grizzlies, Sacramento Kings) and Sioux Falls Skyforce (Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves, Orlando Magic). Of those seven teams, only the Fort Wayne Mad Ants have the same three NBA affiliates as last season.
The NBA D-League continues to be a launching pad for NBA talent – 23 percent of all NBA players on 2010-11 end-of-season rosters have played in the NBA D-League, while 27 of the 60 players selected in the 2010 NBA Draft played in the NBA D-League last season.
The complete affiliation system for 2011-12 is listed below:
2011-12 NBA DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE TEAM AFFILIATIONS
AUSTIN TOROS (TX)
San Antonio Spurs
BAKERSFIELD JAM (CA)
Los Angeles Clippers
Phoenix Suns
Toronto Raptors
CANTON (OH)
Cleveland Cavaliers
DAKOTA WIZARDS (Bismarck, ND)
Golden State Warriors
ERIE BAYHAWKS (PA)
New York Knicks
FORT WAYNE MAD ANTS (IN)
Detroit Pistons
Indiana Pacers
Milwaukee Bucks
IDAHO STAMPEDE (Boise, ID)
Denver Nuggets
Portland Trail Blazers
Utah Jazz
IOWA ENERGY (Des Moines, IA)
Chicago Bulls
New Orleans Hornets
Washington Wizards
LOS ANGELES D-FENDERS (CA)
Los Angeles Lakers
MAINE RED CLAWS (Portland, ME)
Boston Celtics
Charlotte Bobcats
Philadelphia 76ers
RENO BIGHORNS (NV)
Atlanta Hawks
Memphis Grizzlies
Sacramento Kings
RIO GRANDE VALLEY VIPERS (TX)
Houston Rockets
SIOUX FALLS SKYFORCE (SD)
Miami Heat
Minnesota Timberwolves
Orlando Magic
SPRINGFIELD ARMOR (MA)
New Jersey Nets
TEXAS LEGENDS (Frisco, TX)
Dallas Mavericks
TULSA 66ERS (OK)
Oklahoma City Thunder
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