NBA teams have greater D-League flexibility

[ducks]

NBA teams have greater D-League flexibility

By Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports 2 hours, 57 minutes ago

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The NBA has decided to create a new partnership with its Developmental League teams called the “hybrid affiliation” that will allow league franchises to control the basketball operations of the minor-league teams without outright purchasing them, Yahoo! Sports has learned.

Teams that chose the hybrid will control completely the basketball operations of their D-League affiliate. The NBA teams will assign the coaches and make the player personnel decisions for the minor league team. As a consequence, the NBA team must commit to paying the $300,000 to $400,000 a season that it costs to expense the D-League organization’s basketball operations. This cost includes paying the salaries of head and assistant coaches, players and trainers.

The details were outlined in a memo the league office sent to its 30 teams on Thursday. Currently, the Los Angeles Lakers, Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs own and operate their own D-League affiliates.

“The cost [of running a team] is less than a minimum-player salary, so it’s worth it to control your young talent,” a Western Conference executive told Yahoo! Sports. “You can either spend that money to build a great minor-league system or you can spend it on a minimum guy that’s sitting at the end of your bench.”

In its eighth season, the D-League has 16 teams and plans to add a 17th franchise in Portland, Maine, next season. Every NBA team has an affiliate that it can use to season players. NBA teams also can recall players who aren’t the property of particular teams. So far this season, 12 players have been called up to the NBA from the D-League.

[tp2021]

So, what about the teams that have to share an affiliate? And what benefits/incentives do teams have for actually owning the D-League affiliate?

[ChumpDumper]

I'm sure some teams (Utah, Cleveland) have been pushing for this arrangement, and of course Boston probably put it over the top with their all-but-announced affiliate in Maine.

So, what about the teams that have to share an affiliate?

They don't get to do this, though in some cases they might be able to piggy back on another team's hybrid affiliation like Boston has nominally done with Utah.

And what benefits/incentives do teams have for actually owning the D-League affiliate?

I'm sure some teams would like to control all aspects of the franchise like marketing campaigns, sales and pr personnel, etc. I can't see the Spurs doing without that control, just as I couldn't see the Thunder's letting a company like SW Basketball run it's D-League team the way it was before the buyout.

[pad300]

Is it just me, or did SAS, LAL and OKC get hosed. They put in significantly more investment (iirc, the purchase of the Toros was 2 or 3 million, not 300,000) , and then everyone else gets to jump in for cheap?

[coyotes_geek]

Is it just me, or did SAS, LAL and OKC get hosed. They put in significantly more investment (iirc, the purchase of the Toros was 2 or 3 million, not 300,000) , and then everyone else gets to jump in for cheap?

Sure looks that way to me. I guess whether or not they're getting hosed depends on whether or not the teams are actually turning a profit.

[coyotes_geek]

And what benefits/incentives do teams have for actually owning the D-League affiliate?

The main benefit is that the team has complete control over how the d-league team is run. The Spurs can tell Quin Snyder what offense to run, what defense to run and what players to give minutes to. If the Toros were a shared NBDL franchise Snyder would be stuck in the middle between two or more franchises all wanting their offense ran and their players receiving the most attention.