Huntsville Flight Relocates to Albuquerque

GREENVILLE, S.C., June 21 – The Huntsville Flight, which ceased operations in the NBA’s National Basketball Association Development League on May 4, has been relocated to Albuquerque, N.M.

D-League Albuquerque will inherit the Flight’s season-ending roster and will be able to protect up to four players from that list. Decisions regarding the coach and athletic training positions will be made at a later date by Southwest Basketball, LLC with NBA approval.

Huntsville joins teams from Columbus, Ga. and Asheville, N.C. as original D-League teams relocating to new and larger markets for the 2005-06 season. Columbus will play in Austin, Texas and Asheville has moved to Tulsa, Okla.

The D-League, the NBA’s Development League, will tip off its fifth season in November 2005. The league includes the Fayetteville Patriots (N.C.), Florida Flame (Ft. Myers), Roanoke Dazzle (Va.), Arkansas RimRockers (Little Rock), as well as Albuquerque (N.M.), Tulsa (Okla.) and Austin and Fort Worth (Texas).

The league offers players the opportunity to develop their talent in a highly competitive atmosphere under the NBA’s umbrella. Thirty-four (34) players have been called up the NBA on 50 separate occasions. Ten (10) former D-League coaches, five athletic trainers, 11 referees and 29 front office executives have also been called up since the start of the league’s inaugural season in November 2001. Six additional front office executives have earned positions with other major league sports.

Designed to help grow the sport of basketball both domestically and internationally, the league also offers fun, family entertainment at affordable prices. The D-League is a source of on-court talent for the NBA’s 30 teams and is a diverse human resources pool for the NBA and its teams by training employees in management, operations, public relations, sales and marketing positions.