NBA G League

The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of the 2024–25 season, all are single-affiliated or owned by an NBA team except for the independent Mexico City Capitanes.

The league was founded in 2001 as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL), renamed the NBA Development League (NBA D-League) in 2005. It received its present name in 2017 under a deal with Gatorade, becoming the first U.S. professional sports league named for an advertiser.

Initially eight teams, the league expanded after 2005 under a plan by NBA commissioner David Stern, Russ Granik, Bobby Sharma, and other league executives, to develop it into a true minor-league farm system, with each team affiliated with one or more NBA teams. By mid-2014, one-third of NBA players had spent time in the league, up from 23% in 2011.

On June 13, 2000, NBA commissioner David Stern and deputy commissioner Russ Granik announced the formation of the National Basketball Development League, to begin play in November 2001, with players required to be at least twenty years old. This was not the first time the league had their own minor league system, as they had used the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) as a developmental league for over two decades. The NBA had attempted to buy the CBA in March 2000, but they were rejected.

The league began its play as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) in the 2001–02 season; the eight franchises were all located in the Southeastern United States (in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia). Each team logo was given NBDL branding that was differentiated by team colors.

Eight players were called up to the NBA during the season, which included Chris Andersen, the first player drafted by a NBDL team. The league made sponsorship deals with Reebok and television broadcasting deals with ESPN2 and Fox Sports South to broadcast select games during the first season (such as the NBDL Finals), which made them one of few minor league operations to have nationally televised games. The Greenville Groove won the first NBDL championship on April 8, 2002, after winning game 2 over the North Charleston Lowgators. The league saw an average attendance of 1,640 fans per game, lower than what the NBA expected.

In 2005, the league's name was changed to NBA Development League (NBA D-League) as part of the new collective bargaining agreement with the NBA and a bid to appeal to more fans by showing the connection to the NBA. In the same offseason, Southwest Basketball, LLC led by David Kahn received league permission to operate four new teams. Southwest Basketball purchased three existing franchises and one expansion team: the Albuquerque Thunderbirds, Austin Toros, Fort Worth Flyers, and Tulsa 66ers. The Arkansas RimRockers were also added from the ABA for the 2005–06 season. In February 2006, the D-League expanded to California with the addition of the Bakersfield Jam. Two months later, the league announced that four teams from the CBA were joining the league: the Dakota Wizards, Sioux Falls Skyforce, Idaho Stampede, and a team originally slated for CBA expansion, the Colorado 14ers. Shortly after, the league announced expansion teams in the Anaheim Arsenal and the Los Angeles D-Fenders. The D-Fenders were the first D-League team to be directly owned by an NBA parent team, the Los Angeles Lakers.

However, the westward expansion contributed to the contraction of the NBA-owned Roanoke Dazzle and Fayetteville Patriots for that season. The Florida Flame suspended operations due to arena scheduling difficulties. After the 2006–07 season, there would be no more teams in the southeastern United States until the 2016 expansion team, the Greensboro Swarm. After the 2006 to 2009 expansions, the league membership was fairly consistent, with few moves or suspensions.