The 2016–17 NBA Development League season was the 16th season of the

NBA Development League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of the 2024–25 season, ...

(NBA D-League). The NBA D-League is the official

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

organization owned by the

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

(NBA). The following season, the league was rebranded to

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the Minor league#Basketball, developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of ...

as part of multi-year partnership with

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

and its parent company,

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase, New York, Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the f ...

Transactions

Retirement

* On July 4, 2015,

Blake Ahearn Daniel Blake Ahearn (born May 27, 1984) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who was an assistant coach for the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for Missour ...

was named the head coach of Clayton High School's boys basketball team, effectively ending his playing career. Ahearn played for 6 NBA D-League teams during his 8-year playing career, winning one championship with 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 2015.

League changes

The league expanded to a record 22 teams for the 2016–17 season. Three

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

s were introduced this season ( Greensboro Swarm,

Long Island Nets The Long Island Nets are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Uniondale, New York, and are affiliated with the Brooklyn Nets. The team plays its home games at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Nassau County ...

, and

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 ...

), each of them owned and affiliated with an NBA team. Along with these three new teams, the Bakersfield Jam were purchased by their 2015–16 affiliate, the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...

, and relocated to become the

Northern Arizona Suns The Motor City Cruise are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Detroit, and are affiliated with the Detroit Pistons. The Cruise play their home games at Wayne State Fieldhouse. The franchise began play as the Long ...

. The

Idaho Stampede Idaho ( ) is a landlocked state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington and Oregon to the west; the state s ...

, who were already owned by the

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. Since the 1991–92 season, the ...

, were also relocated and became the Salt Lake City Stars. The Reno Bighorns were purchased by their NBA affiliate, the

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Confere ...

just prior to the start of the season. The addition of the three teams, as well as the purchases of existing teams, left just eight NBA teams without a D-League affiliate and only seven D-League teams not owned by an NBA team. The league consists of two conferences, each with 11 teams split into two divisions, two with six and two with five. The Greensboro Swarm and

were placed into the Atlantic Division. The Raptors 905 moved from the Atlantic Division, along with the newly formed

, to the Central Division. With the addition of the three expansion teams, to even out the conferences, the Iowa Energy and

Sioux Falls Skyforce The Sioux Falls Skyforce are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and are affiliated with the Miami Heat. The team has played its home games in the Sanford Pentagon since the 2013–14 ...

moved from the Central Division of the Eastern Conference to the Southwest Division of the Western Conference.

Regular season

Final standings.

Eastern Conference

;Atlantic Division ;Central Division

Western Conference

;Southwest Division ;Pacific Division

Playoffs

For the last time, the League held an eight-team bracket for the postseason. After the season, the League would shift from best-of-three postseason rounds to having it only be for the Finals (while retaining the arrangement of having the better seeded team host Game 2 and Game 3 if necessary). Raptors 905 won the Finals in the final year of the league with the D League branding, winning over the Rio Grande Valley Vipers in three games. The Vipers won Game 1 119–106 before Raptors 905 won Game 2 95-85 and Game 3 122–96.

Finals boxscore

References

External links

Official website
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