The NBA Development League?s 2007-08 season begins this Friday, Nov. 23 with five games on tap, including the first-ever games for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Iowa Energy and Fort Wayne Mad Ants.
This season, the league?s seventh, and the third in which D-League teams have direct affiliations with NBA teams, has seen a record nine NBA assigned players prior to the start of the season. For the 2007-08 season an all-time high 14 teams will be broken into three divisions: the Central Division, Western Division and Southwestern Division.
The Central Division is comprised of the defending champion Dakota Wizards, Fort Wayne Mad Ants, Iowa Energy and Sioux Falls Skyforce while the Western Division includes the Anaheim Arsenal, Bakersfield Jam, Idaho Stampede, Los Angeles D-Fenders and Utah Flash. The Southwestern Division consists of the Albuquerque Thunderbirds, Austin Toros, Colorado 14ers, Rio Grande Valley Vipers and Tulsa 66ers.
D-League teams play a 50 game regular season schedule which begins Friday and ends April 12, 2008. Playoffs will begin on April 14 at the earliest.
Once again, the D-League All Star Game will take place in conjunction with NBA All Star 2008 in New Orleans on Feb. 16. One month prior to the All-Star game, all 14 of the D-League teams will take part in another of the league?s marquee events: The D-League Showcase which will run from Jan. 14-17, 2008 in Boise, ID. Those games can be seen live on NBA TV.
Each team recently made final cuts, and opening day roster are set.
The NBA Development League is the NBA's official minor league and the first-ever basketball league with direct affiliations to NBA teams. Now in its seventh season, the D-League?s goals are to provide affordable, NBA-caliber entertainment to fans of its 14 teams as well as continue to develop players, coaches, referees and front-office personnel for the NBA. As the single source for in-season player "call-ups" to the NBA, fans of the D-League enjoy the highest caliber of basketball played outside the NBA. In fact, former D-League players represented 10 percent of NBA players on 2007-08 opening day rosters, numbering 44 in total. In addition, the D-League has produced 25 percent of current NBA referees and 16 current NBA coaches, including Head Coach Sam Vincent with the Charlotte Bobcats. The D-League is an innovative and rapidly growing sports property that also serves as an experimental testing ground for new initiatives of the NBA and its teams, provides continuing education and professional development resources for its players, and is committed to serving its local communities through D-LEAGUE CARES and grassroots efforts.