G League’s Mexico City Team To Play In U.S. In 2021/22

As expected, the Mexico City Capitanes will indeed be joining the NBA G League for the 2021/22 season, but they won’t be playing their home games in Mexico, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

As Charania explains, ongoing restrictions on international travel related to the coronavirus will prevent the Capitanes from playing in Mexico City in ’21/22. The Raptors found themselves in a similar situation last season, forced to play their home games in Tampa instead of Toronto due to the governmental rules on travel between the U.S. and Canada.

The Capitanes will be based in Fort Worth, Texas for practice and housing purposes in 2021/22, according to Marc Stein of Substack (Twitter link). League sources tell Stein that the team will play all its games in “existing league markets.”

It’s unclear if that means the Capitanes will simply play all their games at their opponent’s arenas, or if they’ll host their home games at nearby arenas if and when they’re available. The Texas Legends (Frisco), Austin Spurs (Austin), and Rio Grande Valley Vipers (Edinburg) are among the other NBAGL teams based in Texas. The Oklahoma City Blue’s home arena also isn’t too far from Fort Worth.

The NBA has yet to formally confirm its plans for the Mexico City Capitanes in 2021/22, but with the G League season inching closer, an official announcement should be coming soon and should provide more clarity on where the club’s home games will take place.

The addition of the Capitanes to the G League for the 2021/22 season means the NBAGL will have 30 teams for the first time — 28 of them are affiliated with NBA clubs. We provided more info on those affiliations last week.