(05-19-2017 10:43 PM)Stugray2 Wrote:  The NBA D-League will get to 28 in 2018-19. New Orleans is getting very serious, down to five locations. Baton Rouge and Mobile (AL) roughly 2 hours drive away, and Shreveport, Jackson and Pensacola each roughly 3 hours away. (St. Tammany pulled out after a tax measure failed, so they have to redirect $15M to courts and prisons they had hoped to be free for other projects.) Washington has pretty much laid out their plans to be in the St. Elizabeth facility in the 8th ward in 2018-19 (their new practice and training building ... will be a state of the art facility).

But I am not sure about getting to 30. Portland's ownership has zero interest in the D-League and sold the Boise Stampede to Utah who moved it to SLC. They really don't see the value in it. Denver hasn't shown any seriousness in it at all. Maybe the NBS has to start or run two franchises themselves. Erie is only contract for 2017-18 and 2018-19 while the Atlanta Hawks facility is built, after that nothing. Same could happen to Sioux Falls if the Heat decide to set up their own club in the greater Miami metro. That is the only way I see the league getting to 30 in the next few years. Denver and Portland are not doing anything.

On Siakam, it would not surprise me if the Warriors offer him a potential spot next year. The salary cap limits will likely mean Zaza Pachulia and Shaun Livingston are gone, and the team appears to have given up on Kevon Looney (Damien Jones hasn't shown anything, but I think they will give him one more shot next year; thank God Patrick McCaw has panned out - the future replacement for Andre Igoudala). They don't have any draft picks, and they are going to have trouble keeping Ian Clark (who will take Shaun Livingston's minutes and role) under contract. There is also a rumor David West will retire if the Warriors win the title. A lot of open spots, and I think a couple D-League guys (Siakam fits the role they wanted Looney to fill) will wind up getting a slot or two (they want a back up pure PG, and if they can find it a rebounder who can pass).

NBA first round draft picks sign four year contracts with the teams that draft them, the first 2 years are fully guaranteed and the last 2 years are at the option of the team. Siakam is under contract with Toronto for another three years. NBA teams will assign a player the end of the roster down to the NBDL for playing time. Siakam was assigned to the NBDL , but he was on the roster on the roster for the playoffs.

Kevon Looney is under contract through 2017-2018. The 3rd year of his contract was picked up back in October. They still have the option to pick up the 4th year of the deal, which would tie him to the Warriors through 2019.

It is expected that all thirty NBA teams will eventually have D-League teams. The NBA is encouraging all teams to have their own NBDL team. The new collective bargaining agreement has made it more attractive to teams to have their own NBDL team. It has become easier to retain key players. For Portland, it just a matter of finding a location in close proximity that works for them. While there is a cost of establishing your own NBDL team and not a great financial return on the investment, a guy like Portland owner Paul Allen should have no problem making this investment. He is a billionaire after all.