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The G League announced their schedule for the NBA G-League Showcase on Thursday afternoon. The showcase consists of 26 games and will be played from Jan. 10-13. This year, the Raptors 905 will host the games at the Hershey Centre, along with the Mississauga SportZone in Mississauga, Ontario.
The two arenas were announced because for the first in its 14 years of running the showcase, the G-League announced that the games will be in two locations instead of one. The showcase is a great opportunity for NBA scouts and team personnel to take a look at the talent that is presented to them. Because of this, it has proven to be successful, having more than 50 players called up to the NBA either during or right after the the showcases.
The showcase tips off on Wednesday Jan. 10 at noon with the Santa Cruz Warriors and Grand Rapids Drive. It ends with the Reno Bighorns and Delaware 76ers playing on Saturday Jan. 13 at 5 p.m. The full schedule can be seen below.
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The list of former players called up includes Chris “Birdman” Andersen to the Denver Nuggets in 2001, Danny Green from the Reno Bighorns to the San Antonio Spurs in 2010, Gerald Green from the Los Angeles D-Fenders to the New Jersey Nets in 2010, and Hassan Whiteside from the Iowa Energy to the Miami Heat in 2014.
There have been a good number of call ups in the 2016-2017 season, including G League MVP Quinn Cook to the Dallas Mavericks, Yogi Ferrell to the Dallas Mavericks, and David Nwaba to the Lakers.
The Raptors 905, the hosts, will play Jan. 11 and will face the Santa Cruz Warriors. The G-League has made it so all teams are playing in cross-conference opponent games. The games will be at different times so the fans and the scouts in attendance can catch all of the action.
The 15th annual showcase will be interesting because the league will have 27 teams, making the games lopsided. For the time being however, the league is going to continue to make the progress it needs to grow the market of the G-League and get the exposure it needs to be more reputable.