The D-League

Back in 2001, the NBA came up with the idea of creating a paralel league, and so the NBA Development league or D-league was borned.

The league is a true minor league farm system that is supported by NBA teams, and each D-League team is composed of 12 players: around 10 D-League’s and 2 or more NBA’s.

There are notable players from the NBA that had played in the D-League, as Rafer Alston and Gerald Green, who currently plays for the Houston Rockets and whom won the 2005 McDonald's All-American Slam Dunk Contest from the NBA.

Since it began, the league has had different champions every year, except for the Asheville Altitude whom got two straight titles from 2003 to 2005.

The NBA is looking to expand in different ways, as now the talks are on the table in order to expand the league to Europe, which would include 5 teams that will compete for the NBA championship, so it will be more frequent to see players from Spain or Italy playing for USA teams or viceversa.

Essentially, What the NBA is looking with the D-League is to come up with different ways of adding talented players to the league, and so allowing future prospects to gain minutes on the court in order to be ready when called by a professional team.

And so this are all good news for hoops fans around the world, including me.