The Birmingham Squadron are an American professional

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 ...

team in the

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 ...

based in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

, and are affiliated with 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 Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Confere ...

. The Squadron play their home games at Legacy Arena. The team began play in 2019 in

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, fifth-most populous city in Pennsylvania and the most populous in Northwestern Pen ...

as the Erie BayHawks before moving to Birmingham in 2021.

History

Creation

On March 30, 2017, the

announced their intentions to have an owned-and-operated

team by the 2018–19 season located in the Gulf South region. The organization then announced they were looking at 11 different cities across Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi. By August 2017, the list had narrowed to two: Pensacola and Shreveport. After the city council in Shreveport unanimously voted against building a new arena in September 2017, the Pelicans' general manager Dell Demps stated they had put their efforts in creating a G League team on hold, saying that " indingthe right situation, and the right city for the team to play is essential." On October 24, 2018, the Pelicans announced plans to place their G League team in

, and begin play at Legacy Arena by 2022. The plan included an extensive $125 million renovation to Legacy Arena. While the renovations were ongoing, the Pelicans' affiliate began play for the 2019–20 season as the Erie BayHawks after the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Easte ...

relocated their G League affiliate from

, to

College Park, Georgia College Park is a city in Fulton County, Georgia, Fulton and Clayton County, Georgia, Clayton counties, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States, adjacent to the southern boundary of the city of Atlanta. As of the 2020 United States census, ...

. In March 2021, the Pelicans hired David Lane as the team's general manager with the intent on relocating the team in time for the 2021–22 season.

2019–2021: Erie BayHawks

The Erie BayHawks became the New Orleans Pelicans' affiliate in the 2019–20 season. Ryan Pannone, an assistant on the Pelicans' Summer League staff, was named the head coach of the BayHawks in August 2019. He led the BayHawks to a 13–30 record in his first season, but the season was cancelled prematurely due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The BayHawks played a shortened, 18-team season at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

where they made the playoffs, losing to the

Lakeland Magic The Osceola Magic are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Kissimmee, Florida, and are affiliated with the Orlando Magic. The Magic began play in the 2017–18 season as the Lakeland Magic, and now play their ho ...

in the quarterfinals 139–110. On April 8, 2021, Erie Basketball Management, LLC, the local management company that operated all three franchises as the Erie BayHawks teams, announced that the organization was unable to find another NBA partner team for 2021–22 and ceased operations. Long-time BayHawks president Matt Bresee was honored with the Team Executive of the Year Award that summer, in recognition of his work in Erie.

2021–present: Birmingham Squadron

Following the completion of renovations to Legacy Arena, the franchise moved to Birmingham and officially became the Birmingham Squadron in 2021. The Squadron played their first home game in Birmingham on December 5, 2021, against the Capitanes de Ciudad de México in front of nearly 5,000 fans, where they lost 123–114. The Squadron made the playoffs, falling to the

Texas Legends The Texas Legends are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Frisco, Texas, and are affiliated with the Dallas Mavericks. The Legends play their home games at the Comerica Center. The team began as the Colorado 14 ...

at home in the first round 115–100. The Squadron finished their inaugural season in Birmingham ranked second in league attendance. Following his first season in Birmingham, Ryan Pannone was asked to join Pelicans head coach

Willie Green William Julius Green (born July 28, 1981) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played professionally in the NBA with th ...

's staff in New Orleans full-time as an assistant. Alongside the announcement of Pannone's move, the Pelicans announced that Squadron assistant T.J. Saint was being promoted to head coach. In his first season, the Squadron finished with an 11–21 record in the regular season, 12th place in the Western Conference, and failed to reach the playoffs.

Name, logo, and uniforms

On July 26, 2021, the Birmingham Squadron name, logo, and colors were revealed, with the name "Squadron" being chosen as both a reference to a

collective noun In linguistics, a collective noun is a word referring to a collection of things taken as a whole. Most collective nouns in everyday speech are not specific to one kind of thing. For example, the collective noun "group" can be applied to people (" ...

used for a group of pelicans and to Alabama's history in military aviation such as the

Tuskegee Airmen The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of primarily African American military pilots (fighter and bomber) and airmen who fought in World War II. They formed the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Fighter Group, 477th Bombardment Group (Medium) of th ...

of the 99th Pursuit Squadron. The Squadron logo is a star reminiscent of the Birmingham flag, and incorporates elements of the cultures and histories of both Birmingham and

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

. The team typically wears red uniforms at home and white on the road. At the start of the 2023–24 season, the Squadron announced a partnership with Pearl River Resort to display its logo on the Squadron's home jerseys.

Season by season

Tip–Off Tournament

Regular season

Head coaches

Current roster

References

External links

Birmingham Squadron website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Birmingham Squadron Basketball teams established in 2018 2018 establishments in Alabama