The Indiana Mad Ants are an American professional basketball team of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

based in

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

, and are affiliated with the

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first esta ...

. The team plays their home games at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The Mad Ants won their first and only championship in 2014, when the G League was known as the NBA D-League. In September 2015, Pacers Sports & Entertainment (PS&E), parent company of the Indiana Pacers purchased the Mad Ants.

Team history

2007–2012: early years

In April 2007, the

NBA Development League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

(D-League) announced it was expanding to Fort Wayne for the 2007–08 season, with former

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

President John Zeglis as the team's president and part owner. The team was poised to be the first minor league basketball franchise to play in Fort Wayne since the

Fort Wayne Fury The Fort Wayne Fury was a professional basketball team in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) from 1991 through the cessation of the CBA on February 8, 2001. History The team played at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne ...

were disbanded after the folding of the

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) (originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association) was a men's professional basketball m ...

in 2001. The franchise held a team-naming contest on their website where fans could vote on one of the four finalists: ''Lightning'', ''Fire'', ''Coyotes'', and ''Mad Ants'', the latter name being a tribute to the city's namesake

"Mad" Anthony Wayne Anthony Wayne (January 1, 1745 – December 15, 1796) was an American soldier, officer, statesman, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He adopted a military career at the outset of the American Revolutionary War, where his mil ...

. At the team's inception, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants were affiliated with the Detroit Pistons and

. They finished the 2007–08 season, their first in the D-League, with a 17–33 record that put them in last place in the Central Division. The Mad Ants added the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

as their third affiliate for the 2008–09 season. They ended that season with a 19–31 record and posted three more under-.500 records in the next three years, failing to make the playoffs in their first five years of competition.

2012–2015: playoff success

The Mad Ants added the

Charlotte Bobcats Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populous ...

, now the Hornets, as their fourth NBA affiliate before in the 2012–13 season. They made the D-League playoffs for the first time in 2013, losing to the

Santa Cruz Warriors The Santa Cruz Warriors are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Santa Cruz, California, and are affiliated with the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors play their home games at Kaiser Permanente Arena. Prior to ...

in the first round after going 27–23 in the regular season. The next year, the Mad Ants won their division with a 34–16 record and made it to the D-League Finals for the first time after beating the Sioux Falls Skyforce in the semifinal series. The Mad Ants defeated the

2–0 in the Finals to claim their first D-League title. In 2014, as most NBA teams began exclusively partnering with or acquiring their own D-League teams, the Mad Ants made affiliate partnerships with the rest of the teams that did not have exclusive affiliates: the Atlanta Hawks, the Chicago Bulls, the

Brooklyn Nets The Brooklyn Nets are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Nets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. The t ...

, the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...

, the Los Angeles Clippers, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the

New Orleans Pelicans The New Orleans Pelicans are an American professional basketball team based in New Orleans. The Pelicans compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division and play their hom ...

, the Portland Trail Blazers, the Toronto Raptors, and the

Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast D ...

. This put the Mad Ants' total number of NBA affiliates at 14 for the 2014–15 season. The Mad Ants made it to the D-League Finals again in 2015, but lost the championship series to the

in two games. By 2015, the Mad Ants were the only remaining independently owned team in the D-League, as the rest were owned and operated by an NBA team or a common parent organization.

2015–present: Pacers ownership

In September 2015, Pacers Sports & Entertainment (PS&E) purchased the Mad Ants from owner and president John Zeglis and made the team the

' one-to-one D-League affiliate, dropping the rest of the Mad Ants' partnerships. Brian Levy was named general manager by PS&E. In 2017, the Mad Ants rebranded and changed their colors to the same colors as the Pacers: navy blue, gold, cool gray and white. This was the same year that the NBA Development League was rebranded as the

following a sponsorship deal with

Gatorade Gatorade is an American brand of sports-themed beverage and food products, built around its signature line of sports drinks. Gatorade is currently manufactured by PepsiCo and is distributed in over 80 countries. The beverage was first develop ...

and the NBA. After spending the 2020–21 season at the NBA G League single site in Orlando, Florida during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the Mad Ants returned to their home court at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum on November 6, 2021, playing their first home game in the venue in 608 days against the

Windy City Bulls The Windy City Bulls are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, and are affiliated with the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls play their home games at Now Arena, from Chicago. It became the thirte ...

. This game also marked the start of the Mad Ants' 15th Anniversary season. On May 8, 2023, the Indiana Pacers announced that they were moving the Mad Ants to Indianapolis for the 2023–24 G League season in preparation of construction of a new, 3,400-seat venue in Noblesville, Indiana. The move will be accompanied by a new mascot as well.

Season-by-season results

Players

Current roster

Notable former players

Isaiah Jackson Isaiah Allen Jackson (born 22 January 1945) is an American conductor who served a seven-year term as conductor of the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston, of which he has been named Conductor Emeritus. He was the first African-American to be a ...

(2021–22),

center *

Goga Bitadze Goga Bitadze ( ka, გოგა ბითაძე; born 20 July 1999) is a Georgian professional basketball player for the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Listed at and 250 lbs (113 kg), he plays the center position ...

(2019–21), Indiana Pacers center *

Jakarr Sampson JaKarr Jordan Sampson (born March 20, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for Liaoning Flying Leopards of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He played college basketball for the St. John's Red Storm. He is a frequent rebou ...

(2019–20),

Liaoning Flying Leopards The Liaoning Flying Leopards (), also known as the Liaoning Shenyang Sansheng Flying Leopard Club or Liaoning Bengang (simplified Chinese: 辽宁本钢), are a Chinese professional basketball team based in Hunnan District, Shenyang, Liaoning, whi ...

forward * Hasheem Thabeet (2019–2020), former

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

center, second-overall pick in the

2009 NBA draft The 2009 NBA draft was held on June 25, 2009, at the WaMu Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In this draft, the National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eli ...

Georges Niang Georges Niang (born June 17, 1993), nicknamed "The Minivan", is a Senegalese-American professional basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was an All-American college player for Iowa State U ...

(2016–17),

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eas ...

forward *

Mike Muscala Michael Peter Muscala (/muˈSKĂ luh/; born July 1, 1991) is an American professional basketball player for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Early life Muscala was born on July 1, 1991, in St. Louis Park, Minnes ...

(2014–15),

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

center * Khris Middleton (2012–13),

forward, 2021 NBA Champion,

Olympic gold medalist This article lists the individuals who have won at least four gold medals at the Olympic Games or at least three gold medals in individual events. List of most Olympic gold medals over career This is a partial list of multiple Olympic gold medalis ...

Terran Petteway Terran Petteway (born October 8, 1992) is an American professional basketball player for Hapoel Eilat of the Israeli Basketball Premier League. He played college basketball for Texas Tech University and the University of Nebraska. Petteway led ...

(born 1992), basketball player in the

Israeli Basketball Premier League Ligat HaAl ( he, ליגת העל, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is the top-tier level league of professional sports, professional competition in Israeli sports club, club basketball, making ...

* Ben Moore (born 1995), basketball player in the

Miles Plumlee Miles Christian Plumlee (born September 1, 1988) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Perth Wildcats of the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL). He played four years of college ...

(2012–13), former

center, first-round pick in the

2012 NBA draft The 2012 NBA draft was held on June 28, 2012, at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The draft started at 7:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time (2300 UTC), and was broadcast in the United States on ESPN. In this draft, National Basketball Asso ...

, Fort Wayne native * Alex Poythress (born 1993) *

Ron Howard Ronald William Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He first came to prominence as a child actor, guest-starring in several television series, including an episode of ''The Twilight Zone''. He ...

(2007–10, 2011–14), 2014 NBA D-League MVP and "Mr. Mad Ant" * Russ Smith, former NBA player, currently plays in the

Head coaching history

NBA affiliates

;Current *

(2007–present) ;Former * Detroit Pistons (2007–2015) *

(2008–2015) * Charlotte Bobcats/Hornets (2012–2015) * Atlanta Hawks (2014–2015) *

(2014–2015) * Chicago Bulls (2014–2015) *

(2014–2015) * Los Angeles Clippers (2014–2015) * Minnesota Timberwolves (2014–2015) *

(2014–2015) * Portland Trail Blazers (2014–2015) * Toronto Raptors (2014–2015) *

(2014–2015)

In popular culture

* In the television series '' One Tree Hill,''

James Lafferty James Martin Lafferty (born July 25, 1985) is an American actor, director, and producer. He is best known for his portrayal of Nathan Scott on The WB/ CW teen drama television series ''One Tree Hill'' (2003–2012). Early life Lafferty was born ...

's character

Nathan Nathan or Natan may refer to: People *Nathan (given name), including a list of people and characters with this name *Nathan (surname) *Nathan (prophet), a person in the Hebrew Bible * Nathan (son of David), biblical figure, son of King David an ...

receives an offer to coach the Mad Ants in the episode "You've Dug Your Own Grave, Now Lie In It". The episode originally aired September 29, 2008 on

The CW Network ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

. * The Mad Ants were featured in the 'MyCareer' mode in

NBA 2K19 ''NBA 2K19'' is a 2018 basketball simulation video game developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K Sports, based on the National Basketball Association (NBA). It is the 20th installment in the ''NBA 2K'' franchise, the successor to ''NBA 2 ...

, a basketball game developed by Visual Concepts and published by

2K Sports 2K is an American video game publisher based in Novato, California. 2K was founded under Take-Two Interactive in January 2005 through the 2K Games and 2K Sports labels, following Take-Two Interactive's acquisition of Visual Concepts that same m ...

References

External links

*
Allen County War Memorial Coliseum website
{{Indiana Sports Basketball teams in Indiana 2007 establishments in Indiana Basketball teams established in 2007