“Noel is a young player with a well rounded game, and his style of play will fit in here,” said head coach Jay Humphries. “We’re excited to have him on our team and he’s excited to be here.”

In 31 starts for the Thunderbirds, Noel, 6-6, has averaged 18.1 ppg, 5.9 rpg and 4.3 apg.

Originally selected in the second round of the 2006 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks, the North Carolina product appeared in 68 games for Milwaukee during the 2006-07 season.

During his career at North Carolina, Noel was a part of the Tar Heels 2005 national championship team and was named All-ACC Second Team and ACC All-Defensive Team. Noel finished his career at North Carolina with 880 points, 549 rebounds, 247 assists, 60 blocks, and 137 steals.

Noel will make his debut this Friday at 7:00 p.m. when the Bighorns host the Fort Wayne Mad Ants in Reno at the Downtown Reno Events Center.

The NBA Development League, founded in 2001, is the NBA’s official minor league and features 16 teams with direct affiliations to NBA teams for the 2008-09 season. An expansion team will begin play in Portland, Maine for the 2009-10 season. Sixty former NBA Development League players were on 2008-09 NBA start-of-season rosters, and the league continues to develop current NBA coaches and referees. In fostering the league’s connection to the community, its teams, players and staff promote youth basketball, support local needs and interests, and assist in educational development through NBA D-League Cares programs. The NBA D-League also advances the game of basketball as the research and development arm of the NBA. Throughout this season fans can watch all NBA D-League games on NBA Futurecast, the free live Web-streaming initiative found at nba.com/futurecast.

Contact info: Jason Glover/President

775-742-5859 cell