List of NBA G League champions
| NBA G League awards and honors | ||
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| Individual awards | ||
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The NBA G League (previously known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005 and the National Basketball Association Development League (NBA D-League) from 2005 to 2017) Finals is the championship game or series for the NBA G League and the conclusion of the league's postseason.
Since the league's inception in 2001–02, a variety of formats has been used to determine the champion. From the inaugural postseason in 2002 through 2006, the four teams with the best records advanced to the postseason because there were no division or conference splits to divide the eight teams.[1][2][3][4][5] The first two seasons, both semi-finals and the Finals series were in a best-of-three format, whereby a team must win two of the three games to advance or win the championship.[1][2] Then, between 2004 and 2007, the playoffs used a single-elimination tournament among the four teams, with two semi-final games and one winner-takes-all championship match.[3][4][5][6]
In 2007, the league had expanded to 12 teams and was divided into Eastern and Western Conferences, comprising six teams apiece.[6] The playoffs pitted each conference's winner against one another, with the Eastern Conference's Dakota Wizards winning the championship 129–121 in overtime against the Colorado 14ers.[6] The best-of-three format returned in 2008.[6][7][8][9] With the league's continued expansion to 14 teams in 2008 and 16 teams in 2009, the two-conference format was replaced with a three-division format consisting of Western, Southwestern and Central Divisions.[7][8] Both the 2008 and 2009 NBADL championship series were between teams representing the Western and Southwestern Divisions, with no Central teams making it to the finals.[7][8] Since 2010, the league has re-formatted to the Eastern and Western Conferences. Due to there being two more teams in the Western Conference (9) than the Eastern Conference (7), and because the top eight teams with the best regular season records qualified for the postseason irrespective of conference, the 2010 NBADL Finals consisted of two Western Conference teams.[9]
Key[]
| Bold | Winning team of the Finals |
| † | Had or tied for the best regular season record for that season |
| Team (X) | Denotes the number of times the team has won (also includes past names of franchise, if applicable) |
Champions[]
| Year | Champion | Division | Result | Runner-up | Division |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002[1] | Greenville Groove† | — | 2–0 | North Charleston Lowgators† | — |
| 2003[2] | Mobile Revelers | 2–1 | Fayetteville Patriots† | ||
| 2004[3] | Asheville Altitude† | 1–0 | Huntsville Flight | ||
| 2005[4] | Asheville Altitude (2) | 1–0 | Columbus Riverdragons† | ||
| 2006[5] | Albuquerque Thunderbirds | 1–0 | Fort Worth Flyers† | ||
| 2007[6] | Dakota Wizards† | Eastern | 1–0 | Colorado 14ers | Western |
| 2008[7] | Idaho Stampede† | Western | 2–1 | Austin Toros | Southwest |
| 2009[8] | Colorado 14ers† | Southwest | 2–0 | Utah Flash | Western |
| Year | Champion | Conference | Result | Runner-up | Conference |
| 2010[9] | Rio Grande Valley Vipers | Western | 2–0 | Oklahoma City Blue | Western |
| 2011[10] | Iowa Energy† | Eastern | 2–1 | Rio Grande Valley Vipers | Western |
| 2012[11] | Austin Toros | Western | 2–1 | Los Angeles D-Fenders† | Western |
| 2013[12] | Rio Grande Valley Vipers (2) | Central | 2–0 | Santa Cruz Warriors | Western |
| 2014[13] | Fort Wayne Mad Ants† | Eastern | 2–0 | Santa Cruz Warriors | Western |
| 2015[14] | Santa Cruz Warriors† (2) | Western | 2–0 | Fort Wayne Mad Ants | Eastern |
| 2016[15] | Sioux Falls Skyforce† | Eastern | 2–1 | Los Angeles D-Fenders | Western |
| 2017[16] | Raptors 905† | Eastern | 2–1 | Rio Grande Valley Vipers | Western |
| 2018[17] | Austin Spurs† (2) | Western | 2–0 | Raptors 905 | Eastern |
| 2019 | Rio Grande Valley Vipers† (3) | Western | 2–1 | Long Island Nets† | Eastern |
| 2020 | No NBA G League playoffs due to the COVID-19 pandemic[18] | ||||
| 2021 | Lakeland Magic | — | 1–0 | Delaware Blue Coats | — |
Results by teams[]
| Teams | Finals appearances |
Championships | Runners-up | Years won | Years runners-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rio Grande Valley Vipers | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2010, 2013, 2019 | 2011, 2017 |
| Dakota Wizards / Santa Cruz Warriors[f] | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2007, 2015 | 2013, 2014 |
| Columbus Riverdragons / Austin Toros[b] / Austin Spurs | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2012, 2018 | 2005, 2008 |
| Asheville Altitude / Tulsa 66ers[a] / Oklahoma City Blue | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2004, 2005 | 2010 |
| Huntsville Flight / Albuquerque Thunderbirds / New Mexico Thunderbirds / Canton Charge / Cleveland Charge[d] |
2 | 1 | 1 | 2006 | 2004 |
| Colorado 14ers / Texas Legends[c] | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2009 | 2007 |
| Fort Wayne Mad Ants | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2014 | 2015 |
| Raptors 905 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2017 | 2018 |
| Greenville Groove | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2002 | — |
| Mobile Revelers | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2003 | — |
| Idaho Stampede / Salt Lake City Stars | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2008 | — |
| Iowa Energy / Iowa Wolves | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2011 | — |
| Sioux Falls Skyforce | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2016 | — |
| Erie BayHawks / Lakeland Magic | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2021 | — |
| Utah Flash / Delaware 87ers / Delaware Blue Coats | 2 | 0 | 2 | — | 2009, 2021 |
| Los Angeles D-Fenders / South Bay Lakers | 2 | 0 | 2 | — | 2012, 2016 |
| North Charleston Lowgators / Charleston Lowgators / Florida Flame[e] | 1 | 0 | 1 | — | 2002 |
| Fayetteville Patriots | 1 | 0 | 1 | — | 2003 |
| Fort Worth Flyers | 1 | 0 | 1 | — | 2006 |
| Long Island Nets | 1 | 0 | 1 | — | 2019 |
| Agua Caliente Clippers | — | — | — | — | — |
| Bakersfield Jam / Northern Arizona Suns / Motor City Cruise | — | — | — | — | — |
| Capital City Go-Go | — | — | — | — | — |
| Erie BayHawks / College Park Skyhawks | — | — | — | — | — |
| Erie BayHawks / Birmingham Squadron | — | — | — | — | — |
| Grand Rapids Drive | — | — | — | — | — |
| Greensboro Swarm | — | — | — | — | — |
| Maine Red Claws | — | — | — | — | — |
| Memphis Hustle | — | — | — | — | — |
| Reno Bighorns / Stockton Kings | — | — | — | — | — |
| Westchester Knicks | — | — | — | — | — |
| Windy City Bulls | — | — | — | — | — |
| Wisconsin Herd | — | — | — | — | — |
See also[]
- List of NBA champions
Basketball portal
Notes[]
- a The Asheville Altitude relocated and became the Tulsa 66ers in 2005–06.[19]
- b The Columbus Riverdragons relocated and became the Austin Toros in 2005–06.[19]
- c The Colorado 14ers went on hiatus in 2009–10 and returned as the Texas Legends in 2010–11 after a relocation.[20]
- d The Huntsville Flight relocated and became the Albuquerque Thunderbirds in 2005–06, then the franchise renamed itself to the New Mexico Thunderbirds in 2010–11. The franchise was then purchased and relocated in 2011–12 and became known as the Canton Charge and then the Cleveland Charge in 2021–22.[19][21]
- e After two years as the North Charleston Lowgators, the franchise became known as the Charleston Lowgators for one season prior to their relocation. The franchise was known as the Florida Flame for the 2004 through 2006 seasons.[19]
- f The Dakota Wizards relocated and became the Santa Cruz Warriors in 2012–13.[19]
References[]
- ^ a b c "2001–02 NBDL season summary". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
- ^ a b c "2002–03 NBDL season summary". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
- ^ a b c "2003–04 NBDL season summary". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
- ^ a b c "2004–05 NBDL season summary". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
- ^ a b c "2005–06 NBA Development League season summary". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e "2006–07 NBA Development League season summary". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
- ^ a b c d "2007–08 NBA Development League season summary". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
- ^ a b c d "2008–09 NBA Development League season summary". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
- ^ a b c "2009–10 NBA Development League season summary". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
- ^ Emmert, Mark (April 29, 2011). "Iowa Energy Win NBA D-League Championship". Des Moines Register. Retrieved May 2, 2011.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Dentmon, Austin top Los Angeles for D-League crown". Fox News. April 29, 2012. Retrieved April 29, 2012.
- ^ "Warriors Fall to Rio Grande Vipers in NBA D-League Finals". NBA.com. April 27, 2013. Archived from the original on April 27, 2013. Retrieved April 27, 2013.
- ^ "Fort Wayne Mad Ants Capture 2014 NBA Development League Title". NBA.com. April 26, 2014. Archived from the original on April 29, 2014. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
- ^ "Title Wave: Santa Cruz Wins NBA D-League Championship". NBA.com. April 26, 2015. Retrieved April 26, 2015.
- ^ "Sioux Falls Skyforce Cap Historic Season with First NBA D-League". NBA.com. April 27, 2016. Retrieved April 27, 2016.
- ^ "One For the 905! Raptors Affiliate Takes Home Title". NBA.com. April 27, 2017. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
- ^ "Austin Spurs Win 2018 NBA G League Championship". NBA.com. April 10, 2018. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
- ^ "NBA G League Cancels Remainder of 2019-20 Season". NBA G League. 2020-06-04. Retrieved 2020-06-04.
- ^ a b c d e "National Basketball Development League Facts: NBDL Membership Chronology 2002–2007". apbr.org. Association for Professional Basketball Research. 2008. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
- ^ "NBA League Development Team Comes to Frisco; Colorado 14ers to Move Operations". ci.frisco.tx.us. June 18, 2009. Archived from the original on July 21, 2011. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
- ^ Hubert, Matt (August 18, 2010). "D-League 101: D-League Franchise History". D-League Digest. dleaguedigest.com. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
| Eastern Conference | |
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| Western Conference | |
| Other teams | |
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- NBA G League awards and honors
- National Basketball Association lists