The NBA G League conducted its 2019 expansion draft on Wednesday, allowing the latest iteration of the Erie BayHawks to acquire the rights to up to 14 players.
Erie has been a G League mainstay in recent years. However, after serving as the affiliate for the Atlanta Hawks last season, the BayHawks were relocated to College Park and renamed the Skyhawks. As such, the Erie BayHawks team that participated in today’s expansion draft is technically a new G League franchise — it’ll be the affiliate for the Pelicans in 2019/20.
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As Adam Johnson of 2 Ways & 10 Days recently outlined, each of the G League’s other 27 teams were permitted to protect the rights for up to 12 players. Although the BayHawks could select up to 14 players in the expansion draft, they weren’t permitted to acquire more than two players from any one team.
Here are the 14 players whose rights were acquired by New Orleans’ G League affiliate, with each player’s previous NBAGL team noted in parentheses:
- Taylor Braun (South Bay Lakers)
- Trey Burke (Westchester Knicks)
- Quinton Chievous (Capital City Go-Go)
- Xavier Gibson (Sioux Falls Skyforce)
- Isaac Hamilton (Canton Charge)
- Isaiah Hartenstein (Grande Valley Vipers)
- Derrick Jones Jr. (Northern Arizona Suns)
- Scottie Lindsey (Grand Rapids Drive)
- Erik McCree (Lakeland Magic)
- Codi Miller-McIntyre (College Park Skyhawks)
- Xavier Silas (Iowa Wolves)
- Matt Williams Jr. (Grand Rapids Drive)
- Kyle Wiltjer (Canton Charge)
- Michael Young (Northern Arizona Suns)
Not all of the players whose rights the BayHawks acquired today will actually suit up for the team. In fact, many won’t.
Multiple players selected by Erie – Burke, Hartenstein, and Jones – are currently under contract with NBA teams and won’t be available to the BayHawks as long as they remain on those NBA deals. Other players will spend the 2019/20 season playing overseas.
However, if any of the players selected in today’s expansion draft sign contracts to play in the G League in ’19/20, the BayHawks will have their rights. Erie will hold each of these 14 players’ NBAGL rights for the next two seasons.