The new D-league team will debut next fall, playing a full 50-game schedule in the 2016-17 season, said Fred Whitfield, the Hornets president and chief operating officer. According to the National Basketball Association, an all-time high of 38 percent of all National Basketball Association players at the end of the 2014-2015 season had experience in the D-League.
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Hornets General Manager Rich Cho says its new D-League team will be an extension of the Charlotte Hornets franchise, allowing for a seamless transition between the two teams. The advantage of the Charlotte Hornets having their own D-League team that is in the same state as the pro team is that they can assign players to the developmental league team and sign them from the d-league team effectively. During a press conference, the team revealed that Greensboro will be home of their affiliate, where they’ll play at the Pavilion on the Greensboro Coliseum Complex – a multi-building facility that seats 22,000 people located 90 miles from Charlotte.
Ticket information for the team’s inaugural season will be announced in January 2016.
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The Hornets also announced that Steve Swetoha, who was previously the president of the WNBA’s Tulsa Shock, would be Charlotte’s D-League team president. An additional eight are operated under a “hybrid” affiliation, in which the NBA team funds and manages the basketball operations while local ownership maintains control of the business aspects.
