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 Detroit Pistons, whose D-League affiliate is the Grand Rapids Drive:
The Pistons made 18 assignments for the 2015/16 campaign, sending four players to the D-League for a total of 42 days. Listed below are all the assignments and recalls made by Detroit for the 2015/16 season:
- December 5th: Assigned Spencer Dinwiddie (1st) — Recalled December 6th
- December 5th: Assigned Darrun Hilliard (1st) — Recalled December 6th
- December 6th: Assigned Spencer Dinwiddie (2nd) — Recalled December 9th
- December 6th: Assigned Darrun Hilliard (2nd) — Recalled December 9th
- December 13th: Assigned Spencer Dinwiddie (3rd) — Recalled December 14th
- December 13th: Assigned Darrun Hilliard (3rd) — Recalled December 14th
- December 17th: Assigned Brandon Jennings (1st) — Recalled December 21st
- December 19th: Assigned Darrun Hilliard (4th) — Recalled December 21st
- December 19th: Assigned Reggie Bullock (1st) — Recalled December 21st
- January 7th: Assigned Spencer Dinwiddie (4th) — Recalled February 9th
Grand Rapids also had one player assigned to it from another NBA franchise via the flexible assignment rule:
- The Clippers sent Branden Dawson (two assignments, 48 days).
Here is how the Pistons’ players performed while on assignment to the D-League this season:
- Reggie Bullock: In one D-League appearance, the swingman scored 29 points, grabbed five rebounds and dished out five assists while shooting 83.3% from the field.
- Spencer Dinwiddie: The combo guard appeared in 13 D-League contests and averaged 14.7 points, 3.5 rebounds and 6.0 assists to accompany a shooting line of .421/.340/.869.
- Darrun Hilliard: The shooting guard made three D-League appearances and compiled averages of 25.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists to go along with a slash line of .490/.440/.800.
- Brandon Jennings: The point guard made one D-League appearance and scored 11 points, snagged three rebounds and issued 11 dimes while connecting on 44.4% of his field goal attempts.