New D-League Wrinkle Could Serve as Springboard for League's Future with NBA

Though the NBA Developmental League has never exactly been the equivalent of baseball's minor league system, things are starting to trend in that direction. The only changes the NBA is making are subtle ones. But those are still steps toward increasing the D-League's prominence, which can only be viewed as a good outcome. 

Throughout the last few years, NBA squads have been increasingly willing to send top draft picks down to their D-League affiliates, letting them develop against lesser competition and guaranteeing them playing time they wouldn't otherwise have received at the sport's highest level. But the one major flaw has been the difficulty in sending down fringe roster members and allowing the secondary league to live up to its name without teams losing control of those players. 

Now, the Association is taking a step to remedy that issue. Per Sports Illustrated's Jake Fischer: 

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The NBA has increased the number of players that teams can cut from their training camp rosters and still hold onto their D-League rights, a league spokesman told SI.com. The change was initially installed prior to the 2014-15 season.

NBA teams can now waive four training camp invitees (up from three) and make those individuals 'affiliate players,' providing the player signs a D-League contract and the two sides typically agree to a potential D-League allocation as part of their training camp contract.

The process allows players to avoid entering the D-League draft pool and provides franchises with exclusive D-League rights to those players. However, if a team does not own the players’ NBA rights via the draft, the player is available to sign an NBA contract with all 30 teams.

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Analyzed in a vacuum, this alteration of contract rules isn't abundantly significant. 

Teams get 20 invites to training camp, and those players end up composing the 15-man roster used for the regular season. Now, four of the five cuts can be retained rather than three, which doesn't exactly make for a huge change. 

But it's still a step in the right direction, and it's the latest one that increases the significance of the sport's secondary collection of teams. 

The D-League still isn't a big deal to casual basketball fans, and that won't change until roster players are routinely being churned out of its ranks. The future NBAers—Glen Rice Jr. and Thanasis Antetokounmpo, for example—who choose to play there before they're drafted are few and far between. And the sending down of top prospects is often looked at as a demotion rather than an opportunity to grow.

In addition to the measures already being taken, another step that will lead to change is an influx of teams that have one-to-one affiliates. After all, those organizations have control over both the NBA and D-League rosters, and it's easier for them to option players between the two. 

Perhaps the best recent example comes via the Houston Rockets. The team drafted Clint Capela at No. 25 in 2014 and proceeded to let him spend most of his rookie campaign playing for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. The raw big man honed his skills against less stiff competition, averaging 16.0 points, 9.7 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game while shooting 60.1 percent from the field in 38 contests. 

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Capela made only 12 regular-season appearances for a total of 90 minutes in the Association. But he was ready to be a key rotation member when the playoffs rolled around. Then only 20 years old, he thrived in his role off the bench, bringing an infusion of energy whenever Dwight Howard needed a breather.

It was just another example of the Rockets being ahead of the curve when it relates to the D-League, as Chris Reichert pointed out for UpsideMotor.com:

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NBA clubs are utilizing the D-League more than ever for development of their young players (record 195 assignments this season) and the Rockets are certainly at the forefront of that movement. While some teams choose to develop certain areas that players need work on, the Rockets let Capela continue to improve upon his strengths that are already in place.

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The year before Capela's postseason emergence, it was Troy Daniels coming out of the D-League to hit a game-winning three in the playoffs for the Rockets.

He'd played only five regular-season games in his entire NBA career, instead spending time lighting up the scoreboard from downtown in the lesser league. But he was ready to go when the Rockets called his number. Houston general manager Daryl Morey made sure to praise him in a recent interview with ESPN.com's Calvin Watkins while also bringing up Capela: 

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Last year, he [head coach Kevin McHale] really worked and developed Troy Daniels, who gave us good minutes in the playoffs. He was a big part of that Corey Brewer trade, so unfortunately we couldn’t keep Troy. But Clint is another guy Coach McHale has worked with all year and has been grooming to give us minutes, but frankly most of us felt that it was going to be in the future. But for him to really step up the way that he has is a testament to his work ethic and how much time he’s put into both practice and the games and with his [D-League team].

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More teams are going to follow in the Rockets' footsteps, if for no other reason than the literal growth of the D-League. 

Starting this year, the Toronto Raptors have their own affiliate (Raptors 905). Out of the 19 overall squads in the league, that makes nine one-to-one teams. Next, the New Orleans Pelicans could be pushing that total into double digits. GM Dell Demps explained on the NBA Lockdown podcast on ESPN Radio that his organization is interested in purchasing a squad. 

Gerald Herbert/Associated Press

Such a move would help clear up some congestion for one D-League club.

"On the one hand, that wealth of talent from which to draw has helped the [Fort Wayne] Mad Ants become the best team in the D-League," Fox Sports explains, referring to the 12 teams—including NOLA—that have to share a single D-League squad. "On the other, however, such an arrangement doesn't allow for specific player development for an NBA team."

Bring more teams into the picture, and that's more targeted development, a la Capela. Allow for more targeted development, and that's more players who can make a seamless transition into the Association when they're ready. 

The Atlanta Hawks and Los Angeles Clippers could soon be added into the mix as well, based on these tweets from Dan Woike of the Orange County Register and NBA.com's KL Chouinard:

Count the Charlotte Hornets among future D-League operators, as well, since they plan to have an affiliate in 2016-17. GM Rich Cho didn't hold anything back when discussing what this would mean to the franchise, per an official release from NBA.com: 

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Having our own D-League team would provide us with the best opportunity to develop our young players, which is paramount in today's NBA. This move would allow us to dictate how the team is run, including using the same offensive and defensive sets, play calls and philosophies as the Hornets do. It would also provide for a seamless and easy transition when moving players between our team and the D-League affiliate.

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The D-League is already trending in the right direction, with more teams making use of the extra roster spots and calling up players throughout the season. Whereas it was once almost unheard of to find serious contributors midway through the year, that's changing.

Thanks to data gleaned from Pro Sports Transactions, we can see that over the years, the number of unique players called up and the number of teams making those phone calls have both grown significantly. During the 2014-15 season, only the Chicago Bulls, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves, Portland Trail Blazers and Washington Wizards failed to record such a transaction. 

The saving grace for the aforementioned organizations is that each member of that quintet has made one or more eligible moves since the start of the 2013-14 campaign. Every franchise has, in fact. 

But perhaps the most jarring numbers are the total number of call-ups during any given season, which you can see below: 

Teams aren't hesitating to send players up and down as rosters change. 

Some players are constantly making the journey between an NBA squad and the D-League affiliate, depending on who's healthy and what the big league unit needs at any point in time. Injured veterans—Rajon Rondo and Amar'e Stoudemire in recent years—are working their way back to the Association against lesser competition. Top draft picks are being sent down for seasoning.

And that's saying nothing of players such as Hassan Whiteside and Danny Green, those who are given second chances outside the NBA and work their way back into prominent rotation spots. Without the D-League, the former likely wouldn't be a key starter for the Miami Heat, while the latter wouldn't have inked a $40 million extension with the San Antonio Spurs. 

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

This doesn't figure to change anytime soon. 

"I think it's not out of the question that in five years' time, 50 percent of the NBA will have D-League experience," Malcolm Turner, the NBA Development League President, told Brian Kotloff in an April interview for NBADLeague.com. "I think five years down the road, there's no question—we're at 18 teams now—we could be well into the mid-20s and clearly on a definitive path to 30-for-30."

The latest change only aids the journey down that path. 

In a vacuum, allowing teams to hold one extra waived player on a D-League roster is fairly insignificant, akin to letting them have a shot at one more fringe roster player. 

It gives them the ability to keep 95 percent of their training-camp roster, as opposed to "just" 90 percent. They can offer players partially guaranteed contracts, waive them and retain their rights in the D-League, allowing more talented prospects to suit up in the United States with a livable wage rather than pursuing a more lucrative contract overseas.

In conjunction with the other factors currently impacting the D-League—the increasing number of call-ups by NBA squads and the rising prominence of one-to-one affiliates—this is a big deal. 

The future has never been brighter for the NBA's subsidiary league. 

Adam Fromal covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter:@fromal09.