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Shayne Whittington, Mad Ants in D-League Finals

In his rookie season, Shayne Whittington has a shot at a championship. Whittington, a 6-11 center out of Western Michigan, helped the Fort Wayne Mad Ants advance to the NBA D-League Finals over the weekend.

Whittington spent the majority of his rookie season with the Pacers, but played one game for the Mad Ants during the regular season on Jan. 29. Indiana assigned the rookie to the Development League again on April 8.

The D-League Playoffs were already underway when Whittington joined Fort Wayne. The fourth-seeded Mad Ants knocked off the top-seeded Maine Red Claws and then defeated the third-seeded Canton Charge in the Eastern Conference Finals. Whittington has appeared in three games coming off the bench for Fort Wayne, averaging 3.7 points and 4.0 rebounds in just under 15 minutes per game (you can watch a few of his highlights in the embedded video below).

The Mad Ants, the reigning D-League champions, will meet the Santa Cruz Warriors in the Finals. Game 1 in the best-of-three series will take place on Thursday night in Fort Wayne at 8:00 PM ET. The series then shifts to Santa Cruz for Game 2 on Sunday night at 7:00 PM ET. Game 3 (if necessary) will be on Monday at 10:00 PM ET. All three games will air on ESPNU.

In addition to Whittington, the Mad Ants' roster features C.J. Fair, a rookie guard out of Syracuse who was on the Pacers training camp roster but waived before the season. Fair is averaging 26.0 points per game in the playoffs, the fourth-best average in the league. Teammate Jordan Crawford, who has spent time with four NBA franchises, is averaging a league-best 29.8 points per contest.

Santa Cruz's roster includes several notable names. Starting guard Elliot Williams has appeared in a combined 104 NBA games for four franchises, while backcourt mate Aaron Craft starred at Ohio State. The Warriors, the D-League affiliate of Golden State, also feature two players who are brothers of NBA All-Stars. Mychel Thompson, brother of Golden State forward Klay Thompson, starts in the Santa Cruz frontcourt alongside Taylor Griffin, brother of L.A. Clippers star Blake Griffin.