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 Portland Trail Blazers, one of the 11 NBA franchises without their own D-League affiliate:
The Blazers made 2 assignments for the 2015/16 season, sending two players to the D-League for a total of 20 days. Listed below are all the assignments and recalls made by Portland for the 2015/16 campaign:
- March 10th: Assigned Cliff Alexander (1st) [Santa Cruz Warriors] — Recalled March 20th
- March 10th: Assigned Luis Montero (1st) [Santa Cruz Warriors] — Recalled March 20th
Here’s how Portland’s players performed while on assignment to the D-League this season:
- Cliff Alexander: Alexander appeared in four games and averaged 15.0 points, 7.3 rebounds and 0.5 assists in 27.0 minutes per outing. His shooting line was .521/.000/.714.
- Luis Montero: Montero appeared in four contests and averaged 16.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 28.3 minutes per night. His shooting numbers were .412/.385/.783.