The 2016–17 NBA Development League season was the 16th season of the

NBA Development League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

(NBA D-League). The NBA D-League is the official

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in N ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

organization owned by the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...

(NBA). The following season, the league was rebranded to

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA De ...

as part of multi-year partnership with

Gatorade Gatorade is an American brand of sports-themed beverage and food products, built around its signature line of sports drinks. Gatorade is currently manufactured by PepsiCo and is distributed in over 80 countries. The beverage was first develope ...

and its parent company,

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the food and beverage market. It oversees the man ...

Transactions

Retirement

* On July 4, 2015,

Blake Ahearn Blake Ahearn (born May 27, 1984) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for Missouri State. Hi ...

was named the head coach of Clayton High School's boys basketball team, effectively ending his playing career. Ahearn played for 6 NBA D-League teams during his 8-year playing career, winning one championship with the

Santa Cruz Warriors The Santa Cruz Warriors are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Santa Cruz, California, and are affiliated with the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors play their home games at Kaiser Permanente Arena. Prior to ...

in 2015.

League changes

The league expanded to a record 22 teams for the 2016–17 season. Three

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

s were introduced this season ( Greensboro Swarm,

Long Island Nets The Long Island Nets are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Uniondale, New York, and are affiliated with the Brooklyn Nets. The team plays its home games at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Nassau Count ...

, and

Windy City Bulls The Windy City Bulls are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, and are affiliated with the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls play their home games at Now Arena, from Chicago. It became the thirt ...

), each of them owned and affiliated with an NBA team. Along with these three new teams, the

Bakersfield Jam Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

were purchased by their 2015–16 affiliate, the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Pacific Division (NBA), P ...

, and relocated to become the

Northern Arizona Suns The Motor City Cruise are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Detroit, Michigan, and are affiliated with the Detroit Pistons. The Cruise play their home games at Wayne State Fieldhouse. The franchise began play a ...

. The

Idaho Stampede Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

, who were already owned by the

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference, Northwest Division. Since the 1991–92 season, ...

, were also relocated and became the Salt Lake City Stars. The Reno Bighorns were purchased by their NBA affiliate, the

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...

just prior to the start of the season. The addition of the three teams, as well as the purchases of existing teams, left just eight NBA teams without a D-League affiliate and only seven D-League teams not owned by an NBA team. The league consists of two conferences, each with 11 teams split into two divisions, two with six and two with five. The Greensboro Swarm and

were placed into the Atlantic Division. The

Raptors 905 The Raptors 905 are a Canadian professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Mississauga, Ontario, and are affiliated with the Toronto Raptors. Raptors 905 began play in the 2015–16 season and play their home games at Paramount Fi ...

moved from the Atlantic Division, along with the newly formed

, to the Central Division. With the addition of the three expansion teams, to even out the conferences, the

Iowa Energy Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to t ...

and

Sioux Falls Skyforce The Sioux Falls Skyforce are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and are affiliated with the Miami Heat. The team plays their home games in the Sanford Pentagon, a place they have cal ...

moved from the Central Division of the Eastern Conference to the Southwest Division of the Western Conference.

Regular season

Final standings.

Eastern Conference

;Atlantic Division ;Central Division

Western Conference

;Southwest Division ;Pacific Division

Playoffs

For the last time, the League held an eight-team bracket for the postseason. After the season, the League would shift from best-of-three postseason rounds to having it only be for the Finals (while retaining the arrangement of having the better seeded team host Game 2 and Game 3 if necessary).

won the Finals in the final year of the league with the D League branding, winning over the

Rio Grande Valley Vipers The Rio Grande Valley Vipers are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Edinburg, Texas, and are affiliated with the Houston Rockets. The Vipers play their home games at the Bert Ogden Arena. The Vipers have won fo ...

in three games. The Vipers won Game 1 119-106 before Raptors 905 won Game 2 95-85 and Game 3 122-96.

References

External links

Official website
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