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CLIPPERS TO BE AFFILIATED WITH FORT WAYNE MAD ANTS OF NBA D-LEAGUE FOR 2014-15 SEASON

- League Implements Flexible Assignment System -

 

NEW YORK, September 15, 2014 – The National Basketball Association and the NBA Development League, the official minor league of the NBA, today announced that the Los Angeles Clippers will be affiliated with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants for the 2014-15 season.  Additionally, the NBA D-League has implemented a new flexible assignment system which will enable the 13 independent NBA teams to continue to assign players to the NBA D-League for development or rehabilitation. 

 

The Mad Ants, the lone independent NBA D-League Team, will be affiliated with the Clippers and 12 other independent NBA teams.  To accommodate assignments to Fort Wayne, a flexible assignment system will be utilized when an independent NBA team assigns a player at a time when the Mad Ants already have either the maximum of four NBA players on assignment or two assigned players at the position of the NBA player who is being assigned.  In either event, the NBA D-League will identify to the assigning NBA team any singly-affiliated NBA D-League team that is willing to accept the assigned player, and the independent NBA team assigning the player will choose a team from among those teams to assign the player.  If no singly-affiliated NBA D-League team is willing to accept the assigned player, he will be assigned to one of the non-NBA-owned single affiliate teams pursuant to a lottery.

 

During the 2013-14 season, an all-time high 62 NBA players were assigned to their NBA D-League affiliates a record 187 times.  Twenty-five players drafted in 2013 spent time on assignment in the NBA D-League last season, including 10 first-round selections.  Portland Trail Blazers’ rookie C.J. McCollum, selected 10th overall, and Minnesota Timberwolves’ rookie Shabazz Muhammad, selected 14th overall, headline the group of 2013 NBA draftees who honed their skills in the NBA D-League last season.

 

For the third season, players in the first three years of their NBA careers may be assigned to their team’s NBA D-League affiliate an unlimited number of times.  For the fourth consecutive year, players beyond the first three years of their NBA careers may be assigned to the NBA D-League with both their consent and the consent of the NBA Players Association. 

 

The NBA D-League continues to be a springboard for NBA talent with an all-time high 33 percent of all NBA players on 2013-14 end-of-season rosters having played in the NBA D-League during their careers. 

 

The complete affiliation system for Mad Ants for 2014-15 is listed below:

FORT WAYNE MAD ANTS (IN)

Atlanta Hawks

Brooklyn Nets

Charlotte Bobcats

Chicago Bulls

Denver Nuggets

Indiana Pacers

Los Angeles Clippers

Milwaukee Bucks

Minnesota Timberwolves

New Orleans Pelicans

Portland Trail Blazers

Toronto Raptors

Washington Wizards