The NBA’s relationship with the D-League continues to grow, and this season a total of 19 NBA teams had one-to-one affiliations with D-League clubs. Those NBA organizations without their own affiliates were required to assign players to D-League clubs associated with other NBA franchises. D-League teams could volunteer to take on the assigned players, and if no volunteers emerged, the players were assigned at random.
This significant change from the 2014/15 season came about after the Pacers purchased the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and turned them into their one-to-one partner for the 2015/16 campaign. Other NBA teams have interest in following suit in the years ahead, and the NBA’s ultimate goal for the D-League is for all 30 NBA franchises to have their own D-League squads. You can view the complete list of D-League affiliates here.
We at Hoops Rumors have been recapping the D-League-related activity for the 2015/16 campaign for each team and we’ll finish up with the Utah Jazz, whose D-League affiliate is the Idaho Stampede:
The Jazz made five assignments for the 2015/16 season, sending one player to the D-League for a total of 79 days. Listed below are all the assignments and recalls made by Utah for the 2015/16 campaign:
- November 30th: Assigned Tibor Pleiss (1st) — Recalled December 16th
- January 28th: Assigned Tibor Pleiss (2nd) — Recalled February 3rd
- February 4th: Assigned Tibor Pleiss (3rd) — Recalled February 7th
- February 18th: Assigned Tibor Pleiss (4th) — Recalled January 22nd
- February 24th: Assigned Tibor Pleiss (5th) — Recalled April 3rd
Here’s how Utah’s player(s) performed while on assignment to the D-League this season:
- Tibor Pleiss: In 28 appearances Pleiss averaged 12.3 points, 10.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 31.5 minutes per outing. His shooting line was .583/.316/.877.