NBA G League

What is the G League?

The NBA G League is the National Basketball Association’s official minor league. Its 2026–27 season — the 26th — has 31 teams, 30 of them affiliated with an NBA franchise on a one-to-one basis, each owned or operated by its parent club, plus the Mexico City Capitanes, the only unaffiliated team. Two affiliates have relocated for this season — the Coachella Valley Lakers, formerly the South Bay Lakers, and the Laketown Squadron of the New Orleans Pelicans, formerly based in Birmingham. The “G” is the naming-rights partner Gatorade.^{[1] [2] [4]}

How does it work?

The season tips off on 6 November 2026 with a 14-game Tip-Off Tournament in four regions, whose champion is crowned at the Winter Showcase in Orlando on 19–22 December; records then reset for a 36-game regular season from 19 December, and the top eight in each conference go to the playoffs, with the Finals in the week of 5 April 2027. Players arrive by nine routes the league itself lists: assignment from an NBA roster, Two-Way contracts, the four-round G League Draft, affiliate players cut from NBA training camp, local tryouts, returning-player rights, the waiver pool, expansion drafts and direct entry for players out of high school or from overseas.^[3] [4]

How does a player move up?

The traffic between the two leagues runs on NBA contract instruments. An NBA team may assign a player under NBA contract to its affiliate and recall him at will. It may also hold up to three players on Two-Way contracts, who spend most of the season in the G League but may play up to 50 NBA games, are paid half the NBA minimum — USD 636,435 in 2025–26 — and must be in their fourth NBA season or earlier. The league reports that a record-tying 51 percent of players on NBA opening-night rosters for 2025–26 had G League experience.^[2] [7]

Since when does it exist?

The league began play in 2001–02 as the National Basketball Development League with eight south-eastern franchises, became the NBA Development League in 2005 and the NBA G League in 2017–18. Shared affiliations ended when Indiana bought Fort Wayne in 2015, and since 2024–25 every one of the 30 NBA franchises has owned or operated its own affiliate. The NBA G League Ignite, a development team for elite prospects that produced 13 NBA draft picks, ran from 2020 to 2024. Greensboro’s 2025–26 title made the Charlotte Hornets the first organisation to win Summer League and the G League in the same season.^{[2] [3] [5] [6]}

Champions of the last ten seasons; the 2019–20 season was cancelled.

Why does it matter?

For a petition the G League is the clearest case of a minor league affiliated with a major league: 30 of its 31 teams are owned or operated by an NBA franchise, and the players on Two-Way contracts and assignment are under NBA contract while they play in it. It is also, by the league’s own count, where about half of every NBA opening-night roster has played.^[2] [4]