10-Day: Key Dates to Watch for heading into the 2018-2019 G-League Season

0
2222

Welcome back to another edition of 10-Day, a series of G-League content. We are only a few months away from the start of the 18th season of official minor league basketball. Before we look at some of the key dates to for the upcoming season, here are a some of the changes to the league has added.

Here is the map of the record 27 NBA G-League teams and their parent affiliate (Credit: gleague.nba.com)
  • The league has expanded to one team with the Washington Wizards having their team, called Capital City Go-Go. The name comes from the city’s go-go music genre that started in the mid-1960s to late 1970s. This makes the G-League have 27 teams.
  • Outside of the expansion, two teams have relocated and rebranded to new areas but are still with their NBA affiliate. The Reno Bighorns (Sacramento Kings affiliate) are now the Stockton Kings while the Delaware 87ers (Philadelphia 76ers affiliate) is now rebranded to the Delaware Blue Coats. Both teams are now relocating closer to their NBA club.
  • Because of this addition, the divisions were slightly modified. The Go-Go will join the Southeast division with the Erie Bayhawks, Sioux Falls Skyforce, and Greensboro Swarm. While the Blue Coats will move to the Atlantic Division.

The Expansion Draft

Back on August 22, Captial City Go-Go had their expansion draft. This is a way for new teams to acquire talent to get their season started. Out of the 191 unprotected players available, the team made 14 selections.  It is unlikely that they will keep all players with open tryouts and the official G-League draft coming up but this is a good way to see who can contribute to the new team right away. Some of the names selected include some players with past NBA experience like Lavoy Allen, Luke Harangody, Alonzo Gee, and Stephen Zimmerman.

Here is the complete list of expansion selection by Captial City Go-Go (credit to 2ways10days.com for the full draft results.)

With the past dates already happen, let’s take a look at future dates.

Open Tryouts and Potential Invites

Since September 8, some G-League teams have held open tryouts for players looking to make a name for themselves. Other teams, like the Salt Lake City Stars, will be hosting tryouts this weekend. While up to 100 players have attended these types of tryouts, by rule teams can sign up to four players to a training camp roster.

October 3 is the latest date for a team to submit names from local tryout players in order to potentially offer an NBA G League contracts. October 15 is the deadline for those players to sign contracts with those teams.

While open tryouts seem like a long shot, sometimes it is used for players to get their break into the league. One example is Johnathan Simmons back in 2013 paid the $150 tryout fee for the Austin Spurs and made their roster and eventually earned a spot with the San Antonio Spurs and earned a nice payday last year with the Orlando Magic.

From $150 tryout to NBA starter. Johnathan Simmons is another example that with hard work and dedication, you can make your NBA dream come true (Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports)

Training Camp, the G-League Draft, and Final Rosters

Once the tryout period is over the focus will now go into training camp and preparing for the G-League draft, in a crossover with the NBA and their training camp. If a player is not signed to an NBA training camp deal, they can sign with a G-League team until the October 15 deadline.

As NBA teams trim their rosters down the potential 17 man roster (this includes potential two-way deals for teams), G-League teams will look to sign some of those players to their roster. October 18 is the deadline for teams to sign NBA training camp cuts. Most of the time, the NBA and G-League teams would work to sign players that didn’t make the main roster and keep them around. G-League teams must submit their training camp rosters by October 19. 

Unlike the NBA, the G-League is held after training camp rosters are assigned. The 2018 G-League Draft is on October 20. This years draft consists or four rounds, with players ranging from undrafted players from the past years draft, international players or past NBA players who are free agents and entered the draft pool. It is unlikely that the team will keep all of their draft picks, as some might be traded to other teams or they sign somewhere else.

The Utah Jazz affiliate Salt Lake City Stars have the first pick in the 2018 G-League Draft. They currently have four picks total.

Once the draft is done teams will begin training camp on October 22 and training camp ends November 1, where teams finalize their rosters. Each G-League roster consists of a minimum of 10 players, with two additional spots for players placed on the inactive/injury list. A team’s active roster can expand to up to 13 players if its parent NBA club assigns players from the main roster. The season then quickly starts on November 2. 

That is the rundown of how the G-League sets up its roster. Follow along here for updates surrounding the NBA G-League.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here