Ft. Wayne Mad Ants Resist NBA D-League Trend Of Single-Team Affiliation

The NBA D-League is "moving toward a system in which there’s one team for every NBA team," but the Ft. Wayne Mad Ants "aren’t interested in selling to an NBA franchise," according to Justin Cohn of the Ft. Wayne JOURNAL GAZETTE. The Mad Ants for the '14-15 season will serve as the "minor-league city for a whopping 13" NBA teams. Mad Ants President Jeff Potter said, "We’ll communicate with each of them and let them know where there are opportunities to send players. Hopefully, we’ll get some good ones." Cohn reports the Mad Ants "will still be able to have a maximum of only four NBA-contracted players on their roster, or a maximum of two at any given position," per D-League rules. If the Mad Ants are at the maximum, the D-League "will identify teams willing to accept players sent down, then the assigning NBA teams will pick from among those teams." If no D-League team pursues such players, they "will be assigned to one of the single-affiliate teams in a lottery" (Ft. Wayne JOURNAL GAZETTE, 9/16).

PLAYING ONE-ON-ONE: The D-League announced that 17 of its 18 clubs in the '14-15 season will have one-to-one partnerships with an NBA team. Last year, there were 14 such partnerships. Seven clubs this season will be fully owned and operated by their NBA parent clubs, while nine teams will operate under a “hybrid” affiliation, whereby the NBA team manages and funds basketball operations, while local ownership maintains control of the business and community relations aspects (John Lombardo, Staff Writer).

NOTES: * = Team relocated from Tulsa after last season and is currently deciding on a new name. ** = Single affiliation by way of Mavs GM Donnie Nelson's ownership of Legends.