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 home games at the Smoothie King Center. Since 2014, the NBA officially considers New Orleans as an expansion team that began play in the 2002–03 season.
The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) was a men's professional basketball minor league in the United States from 1946 to 2009.
The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA Development League from 2005 until 2017. The league started with eight teams until NBA commissioner David Stern announced a plan to expand the NBA D-League to 15 teams and develop it into a true minor league farm system, with each NBA D-League team affiliated with one or more NBA teams in March 2005. At the conclusion of the 2013–14 NBA season, 33% of NBA players had spent time in the NBA D-League, up from 23% in 2011. As of the 2020–21 season, the league consists of 30 teams, 28 of which are either single-affiliated or owned by an NBA team, along with the NBA G League Ignite exhibition team.
The Fayetteville Patriots were an NBA Development League team based in Fayetteville, North Carolina, United States. Its logo design features a bald eagle's head and a basketball in the middle of a capital letter "P" with stars and stripes filling the rest of it.
The Roanoke Dazzle were an NBA Development League team based in Roanoke, Virginia, U.S. In operation from the inaugural D-League season of 2001–02 through the 2005–06 season, the Dazzle marked the return of professional basketball to Roanoke since the Virginia Squires called Roanoke home in the 1970s. Playing their home games at the Roanoke Civic Center, their logo design featured a star moving on rail tracks around a basketball.
The Greenville Groove were a National Basketball Development League (NBDL) team based in Greenville, South Carolina. Playing their home games at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena, the Groove was a charter franchise of the league, which had four teams based in the Carolinas. They were the league champions for the inaugural 2001–02 season but the team folded after the 2002–03 season.
Rick Apodaca is a Puerto Rican former professional basketball player. Apodaca has played in the NCAA, USBL, NBDL, and the National Superior Basketball League of Puerto Rico (BSN) with the Arecibo Captains, Bayamón Cowboys, San German Athletics and Leones de Ponce. He also played professional basketball in Poland, Italy and Turkey. Apodaca was a member of the senior Puerto Rican National Basketball Team that defeated the United States at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games.
Devin LaVell Brown is an American former professional basketball shooting guard who played 8 seasons in the National Basketball Association. Brown won an NBA championship as a member of the San Antonio Spurs in 2005.
The Oklahoma City Blue are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and are affiliated with the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Blue play their home games at Paycom Center. The franchise began as the Asheville Altitude in 2001, before moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2005 and becoming the Tulsa 66ers. After nine seasons in Tulsa, the franchise moved to Oklahoma City in 2014 and were subsequently renamed the Oklahoma City Blue. As the Altitude, they reached the Finals of the NBA G League in 2003 and 2004, winning in both years. They were the first team to reach the championship in consecutive years and as of 2022 are the only NBA G League team to win consecutive championships in history.
Christopher Claus Andersen is an American former professional basketball player. Nicknamed "Birdman", Andersen was born in Long Beach, California, grew up in Iola, Texas, and played one year at Blinn College. Andersen began his professional career in the Chinese Basketball Association and the American minor leagues. He then played in the NBA for the Denver Nuggets and the New Orleans Hornets. He received a two-year ban from the NBA in 2006 for violating the league's drug policy, but was reinstated on March 4, 2008, and re-signed with the Hornets the next day. He returned to Denver later in 2008, and remained with the team until 2012. He signed with the Miami Heat in January 2013 and won a championship with them that same year. He and Oliver Lafayette are the only Blinn students to ever play in the NBA. He most recently played for Power in the Big3 league.
Anthony Mark Johnson is an American former professional basketball player who last played with the Orlando Magic of the National Basketball Association (NBA). At 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m), he played the point guard position. He found success in pro basketball, becoming the first NBA D-League player to participate in an NBA Finals. A native of Charleston, South Carolina, Johnson played college basketball at the College of Charleston and was drafted in the NBA in 1997.
Michael Sharod Wilks, Jr. is an American coach and former professional basketball player who currently serves as an assistant coach for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Ansu Martin Sesay, Jr. is an American former professional basketball player.
Steve Deontay Logan is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Cincinnati Bearcats. He became a star point guard in his collegiate career, and was named a first team All-American his senior year along with future NBA players Jay Williams, Juan Dixon, Drew Gooden, and Dan Dickau.
Shea Brandon Seals is an American former professional basketball player. He played in four games during the 1997–98 NBA season as a shooting guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Mobile, Alabama is home to many different sports teams and events. It is also home to several notable athletes.
The 2001–02 NBDL season was the inaugural season for the National Basketball Development League. The league started with eight teams: Asheville Altitude, Columbus Riverdragons, Fayetteville Patriots, Greenville Groove, Huntsville Flight, Mobile Revelers, North Charleston Lowgators and Roanoke Dazzle. The season ended with the Groove defeating the Lowgators 2–0 in the best-of-three Finals series to win the inaugural NBDL championship.
The 2001 NBDL Draft was the inaugural draft of the National Basketball Development League (NBDL), which was later renamed the NBA Development League (NBADL). The draft was held on November 1, 2001 before the 2001–02 season. In this draft, the league's eight charter teams took turns selecting players who had all competed at the college level in the United States at some point.
Rashad Keith Phillips is an American former professional basketball player. At a height of 5'9 1⁄4" tall, and a weight of 170 pounds, he played at the guard position. Since retiring from basketball, he started and continues to run, "Skills Unlimited", a training and mentoring program for children, that uses basketball as a vehicle to help them overcome their obstacles. Rashad is known to have wild hot takes. One example is asserting he would draft Luka Doncic between 16-25, saying that Allonzo Trier was the superior prospect.
