New York Knicks Will Partner With D-League's Erie BayHawks In 'Hybrid Affiliation'

The New York Knicks have agreed to partner with the NBA Development League's Erie BayHawks and will buy the team's basketball operations according to a source with knowledge of the agreement. An official announcement is expected soon.

The Knicks will control the basketball operations of the team including hiring of the coaches as well as handling all player personnel matters while the BayHawks continue to focus on the business side of basketball of the team Erie, Pa. 

The Knicks are third team to enter into this sort of D-League affiliation as the Houston Rockets have partnered with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers for two seasons while the New Jersey Nets entered into a similar agreement with the Springfield Armor this offseason. 

Ridiculous Upside first mentioned rumblings of this agreement on May 5 and then again on Monday while noting the Knicks would ultimately like to eventually move a D-League team to Harlem.

With this move, the Knicks will become the fifth NBA team with a direct affiliation to their D-League counterpart as the Oklahoma City thunder and San Antonio Spurs own their D-League affiliates outright while Dallas Mavericks president Donnie Nelson purchased the expansion Texas Legends last year.

As of now, the BayHawks are coached by Jay Larranaga, son of former George Mason coach Jim Larranaga. The Knicks could hire a new coach of their own under this agreement, but that's doubtful considering the younger Larranaga's coaching abilities and the fact that he turned down a six-figure offer to join the elder Larranaga's staff at the University of Miami.

For more on the hybrid agreement, at least as was originally planned, I wrote about it here.