The Indiana Mad Ants are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana that competes in the NBA G League. The Mad Ants are the affiliate team of the NBA'sIndiana Pacers and, since 2023, they have played their home games at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, which they share with the Pacers.
The franchise won their first and only championship in 2013–14, and lost in the 2014–15 finals, 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.[5]
Team history
2007–2012: early years
In April 2007, the NBA Development League (D–League) announced it was expanding to Fort Wayne for the 2007–08 season, with former AT&T President John Zeglis as the team's president and part owner.[6] The team was poised to be the first minor league basketball franchise to play in Fort Wayne since the Fort Wayne Fury were disbanded after the folding of the Continental Basketball Association 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.[7]
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.[10] However, in September 2015, Pacers Sports & Entertainment (PS&E) purchased the Mad Ants from owner and president John Zeglis and made the team the Indiana Pacers' one-to-one D-League affiliate, dropping the rest of the Mad Ants' partnerships. Brian Levy was named general manager by PS&E.[11] The team acquired Walter Lemon Jr. and Stephan Hicks in the 2015 D–League Draft before the 2015–16 season. The team missed the playoffs, finishing with a 20–30 record. Rakeem Christmas was selected to the 2016 All–Star Game. Glenn Robinson III, Joe Young, Shayne Whittington, and Terran Petteway also made appearances this season.
On May 8, 2023, the Indiana Pacers announced that they were moving the Mad Ants to Indianapolis in preparation for construction of the Noblesville Event Center, a new 3,400–seat venue, in Noblesville, Indiana.[13] Upon their move to Indianapolis, the Mad Ants rebranded as the Indiana Mad Ants. The name is meant to last until their move to Noblesville, which will be accompanied by a new name, color scheme, and mascot.[14]
In the television series One Tree Hill,James Lafferty's character Nathan 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.[20]
The Mad Ants were featured in the 'MyCareer' mode in NBA 2K19, a basketball game released on September 11, 2018, developed by Visual Concepts, and published by 2K Sports.
The Mad Ants were featured in the "Destination NBA: A G League Odyssey" feature-length documentary which originally premiered August 8, 2023 on Prime Video.[23][24]
The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the minor league organization of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league was founded in 2001 as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL), renamed the NBA Development League in 2005. It received its present name in 2017 under a deal with Gatorade, becoming the first U.S. professional sports league named for an advertiser.
John D Zeglis is an American business executive. He served as president of AT&T from 1997 to 2001 and as chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of AT&T Wireless from 1999 to 2004. Zeglis also co-founded the NBA G League's Indiana Mad Ants as the Fort Wayne Mad Ants in 2007 and served as president and primary shareholder of the organization until the team was acquired by Pacers Sports and Entertainment in 2015.
Darnell Lazare is an American former professional basketball player currently working as an assistant coach for the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for LSU.
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Brian Craig "C. J." Wilcox is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA G League. The 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) shooting guard played high school basketball at Pleasant Grove High School before going on to complete four years at the University of Washington. He was selected by the Los Angeles Clippers with the 28th overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft.
The Jason Collier Sportsmanship Award is an annual NBA G League award given since the league's inaugural National Basketball Developmental League season. The award honors the player who best represents the ideals of character and conduct on and off the court. The league's head coaches determine the award by voting and it is usually presented to the honoree during the G League playoffs. The award is named after former D-League, Houston Rockets and Atlanta Hawks center Jason Collier, who died on October 15, 2005. Collier was a player and person who exemplified the qualities of a faithful teammate, husband, father, son, brother and friend. He was ready to begin his sixth NBA season at the time of his death. Billy Thomas, Andre Ingram and Ron Howard have both won the award on two occasions.
Shayne Mitchell Whittington is a former American-Macedonian professional basketball player who currently serves as an assistant coach for the Western Michigan Broncos. He also represents North Macedonia in the international competitions. He played college basketball for Western Michigan University.
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Trey McKinney-Jones is an American professional basketball player for Gunma Crane Thunders of the B.League. He played college basketball for the UMKC Kangaroos and the Miami Hurricanes.
Stephan Keenan Hicks is an American professional basketball player for the Indiana Mad Ants of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for Cal State Northridge.
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↑ "Team History". FortWayne.GLeague.NBA.com. NBA Media Ventures, LLC. Retrieved March 30, 2024. The NBA G League underwent an overhaul in sponsorship and appearance prior to the 2017-18 season. With global partners such as Nike and Gatorade joining forces with the NBA, the Mad Ants received a new blue-and-gold look to correspond with its NBA affiliate, the Indiana Pacers.
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