With four new teams, here’s how the 2017 G League expansion draft will work
This is the first step to building a new franchise’s roster in the G League.
With four new teams set to join the G League fold for the 2017–18 season, an expansion draft will be necessary to set the foundation for each team’s roster.
As the league has grown precipitously over the last half decade, an expansion draft has been held every year since 2013. The last time the league held a four-team expansion draft was in 2007 with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, Iowa Energy, Rio Grande Valley Vipers and Utah Flash.
Here’s the info to remember with this year’s iteration of the draft.
When is the expansion draft?
The draft will be held on August 23rd, with all four teams taking part in a conference call to make their picks accordingly.
Which teams will participate?
Memphis Hustle (Grizzlies), Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario (Clippers), Erie BayHawks (Hawks), Wisconsin Herd (Bucks).
Wait, why are the BayHawks in the expansion draft? They were in the G League last season.
Yes, they were. However, the Orlando Magic purchased the rights to the existing affiliate in Erie and moved the team to its new location in Lakeland, FL. Those existing player rights transferred with the purchase of the team.
The new BayHawks team is a new franchise purchased by the Atlanta Hawks. The team will play in Erie for two seasons before moving to College Park, GA permanently for the 2019–20 season.
Is this why the Iowa Wolves aren’t in the expansion draft?
Yes. The franchise was purchased by the Minnesota Timberwolves and the team name was changed from the Energy to the Wolves. Those player rights will remain with Iowa for the 2017–18 season.
How many rounds is the draft?
Each team will be able to select 11 players. That’s a total of 44 players whose rights will be on the move, which is not a small number by any means.
Can existing teams protect player rights?
Yes. Teams can protect up to nine players rights in this year’s draft. It might seem like a small number given the number of player rights each team holds, but each team may only lose a maximum of two players through the expansion draft.
This means that given the number of teams already in the league, each team will lose those two players to accommodate the 11 picks each new team has.
Teams must submit their list of protected players to the league by Aug. 15. Expansion teams will receive a list of unprotected players the following day and will have one week to prepare for the draft.
What is the draft format?
The draft will be serpentine in form, meaning the first round will go with the first pick through the fourth, but then reverse order the second round (4, 3, 2, 1) until all 11 rounds are complete.
The expansion draft order will also determine the regular G League draft (which takes place at the end of October). Expansion teams select between playoff and non-playoff teams. The order in the October draft will be the reverse of the first round of the expansion draft. So if Memphis selects first in the expansion draft, they will select last in October’s draft.
Can fans watch the expansion draft?
Unfortunately no. Like many things G League, the expansion draft itself is shrouded in secrecy to those who aren’t involved. Typically, however, teams will release their expansion draft rosters the same day of the draft so fans don’t have to wait too long to hear which players may or may not join their team in the future.
While a new G League team might be exciting for the fans of the parent clubs, don’t expect immediate success.
Since 2013, no expansion team has made the playoffs that same year. Here are the records of the last several expansion teams:
2013
Delaware 87ers, 12–38
2014
Westchester Knicks, 10–40
2015
Raptors 905, 23–27
2016
Greensboro Swarm, 19–31
Windy City Bulls, 23–27
Long Island Nets, 17–33
While the expansion rosters might look impressive on paper, keep in mind a majority of those players taken won’t even suit up for their new team.
Only one expansion player suited up for both the 87ers and Knicks during their inaugural seasons. The same could be said for the 905 as Scott Suggs was the only selection to play for the Raptors during the 2015–16 season.
Why do so few players return to the G League? For most, it’s tied to financial reasons. They had their opportunity to shine and now are signing substantially more lucrative contracts than those that are offered by the G League ($19,000 and $26,000 depending on the salary tier). These players don’t want to continue sacrificing a paycheck when more money is available.
What’s key to remember is these players become assets for expansion teams to make trades and obtain players they want.
For example, the 905 traded player rights of Kevin Jones along with a draft pick to the Santa Cruz Warriors for the rights of Ronald Roberts. A trade that may not have happened without the expansion draft in place to provide the 905 with assets to wheel-and-deal.
Expansion teams typically struggle out of the gate as they try to find their identities as each NBA parent club goes through the growing pains themselves of how exactly they want to utilize their new G League team.
The 905 turned those assets into a winning team this past season, improving to 39–11 their second year, good enough for second best regular season record in G League history, en route to the league championship this past year.
This is an important step for putting a G League roster together, but there are many other pieces along the way including two-way contracts, affiliate players and those who are drafted in October.
The draft is the starting point to the marathon that is the upcoming 2017–18 G League season.
