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 are recapping the D-League-related activity for the 2015/16 campaign for each team and we’ll continue with the Sacramento Kings, whose D-League affiliate is the Reno Bighorns:
The Kings made 8 assignments for the 2015/16 season, sending two players to the D-League for a total of 98 days. Listed below are all the assignments and recalls made by Sacramento for the 2015/16 campaign:
- November 13th: Assigned Duje Dukan (1st) — Recalled November 23rd
- November 30th: Assigned Duje Dukan (2nd) — Recalled December 7th
- December 9th: Assigned Duje Dukan (3rd) — Recalled December 10th
- December 17th: Assigned Duje Dukan (4th) — Recalled December 27th
- February 4th: Assigned Duje Dukan (5th) — Recalled February 24th
- February 25th: Assigned Duje Dukan (6th) — Recalled April 1st
- March 19th: Assigned Eric Moreland (1st) — Recalled April 1st
- April 7th: Assigned Duje Dukan (7th) — Recalled April 8th
Here’s how Sacramento’s players performed while on assignment to the D-League this season:
- Duje Dukan: In 27 appearances Dukan averaged 14.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and 0.7 assists in 28.9 minutes per outing. His slash line was .403/.371/.722.
- Eric Moreland: In five appearances Moreland averaged 9.6 points, 14.0 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 27.0 minutes per contest. His shooting numbers were .553/.000/.286.