The Hawks‘ new NBA G League affiliate will begin play during the 2019/20 season, and the team announced today that the club will change its nickname in addition to relocating to Georgia. According to the Hawks, the new NBAGL squad will be known as the College Park Skyhawks.
“We are excited to introduce the Skyhawks to College Park and bring the future stars of the Atlanta Hawks and our one-of-a-kind entertainment to the Gateway Center,” team CEO Steve Koonin said in a statement today. “With its proximity, resources and most importantly its enthusiasm, we could not find a better home for the Skyhawks than the city of College Park.”
The College Park Skyhawks have been a long time coming — the Hawks announced way back in January of 2017, back when the G League was still known as the D-League, that they’d be establishing their affiliate in College Park for the 2019/20 season. In the interim, Atlanta has controlled the Erie BayHawks for the last two years, using it as a temporary home base for the team’s G League operations before relocating the franchise to Georgia.
While we now know what the Hawks’ new G League affiliate will be called, the club won’t unveil the Skyhawks’ logo and uniform until closer to November, writes Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The G League is moving closer and closer to becoming a 30-team league in which every NBA squad owns and controls a nearby NBAGL affiliate. With the Hawks set to move their team to Georgia and the Pelicans launching a G League affiliate of their own for 2019/20, at least 28 NBA franchises will have NBAGL affiliates next season. The Trail Blazers and Nuggets are the only two teams that have yet to confirm their plans.
Speaking of the Pelicans, their new G League arena in Birmingham, Alabama won’t be ready for several years, so they’ll follow in the Hawks’ footsteps and temporarily play in Erie starting next season. Since that will be an expansion G League team, it’s not clear if they’ll keep the BayHawks moniker.
Get with it nuggets and blazers
The Bend Benders, the Medford Spearshakers, the Telluride Redfords, and the Jackson Whole Steamboats are possibilities.