NBA Starting G League Team in Mexico for 2020-21 Season
The NBA will expand its G League with a new team in Mexico beginning in 2020-21.
Shams Charania of Stadium and The Athletic first reported the news, and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced it in a press conference before the 2019 Mexico City Games, which tip off Thursday when the Dallas Mavericks play the Detroit Pistons at 9 p.m. ET.
Per Silver (h/t Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press), Capitanes, a Mexico City-based team that plays in Mexico's top professional league, Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional, will join the G League.
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Silver said the NBA is making an initial five-year commitment.
Capitanes will become the G League's 29th team and its second outside the United States. Raptors 905, which is the Toronto Raptors' G League team, plays its games in Mississauga, Ontario.
The NBA will host two contests as part of the Mexico City Games this year. The Phoenix Suns will play the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday in addition to Thursday's Mavs-Pistons tilt. Both games will take place in Arena Ciudad de Mexico.
Per the Associated Press, the NBA will have played 30 games in Mexico all time following the conclusion of this year's series. The first one occurred in 1992, when the Houston Rockets beat the Dallas Mavericks. The Rockets also beat the Mavs in the first regular-season game in Mexico five years later.
This also marks the fourth straight year that there have been at least two games in Mexico. The country has been the home of the most regular-season NBA games in any country not counting the United States and Canada.
