Ridiculous Upside Q&A: When is the G League season scheduled to start? What’s the status of the Mexico City Team?

Although there hasn’t anything officially announced, Harrison Faigen over at Silver Screen and Roll recently reported that the league is looking at the possibility of playing the 2020-21 season either partially or fully into a bubble. Within that report, the current discussion is centered around either having a full 50 game season within a bubble, or targeting a 24 game span over the course of 6-8 weeks before bringing the teams back home to finish out the season with some traveling.

At this point, the discussions are very preliminary as the amount of teams that would be in this bubble haven’t been decided. For example, a source recently told me that there could be 8-10 teams consisting of the G League Ignite squad, Mexico City, and other squads made up of players signed to G League contracts. However that Silver Screen and Roll piece had the general feel of it having all twenty eight teams that are affiliated with NBA organizations plus the Ignite and Mexico City squads.

So, to answer your question, I don’t know when the exact start date of the G League season but it seems like the gears are starting to turn a bit.

Right now, there haven’t been any news regarding Capitanes since the G League season ended. However, that team has officially left the LNBP (Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional) which is a sign that they’re likely going to be in the G League whenever the season starts.

If the league goes to a regional bubble format that’s discussed in that Silver Screen and Roll piece, I can definitely see the team moving to an area within the United States that allows it to be closer to other teams within the Atlantic Division. For example, Springfield, Massachusetts would be a pretty good option. For one, it’s within 300 miles of the rest of the teams in the division, so the teams wouldn’t have to use commercial flights to go to away games and move back home.

Also, the league is already familiar with the area as it was the location of the Springfield Armor, who played in the D-League from 2009-14. While this is just an idea off the top of my mind, I feel like it’s something that the league could explore if it goes the regional bubble route.

While I do love the Memphis Hustle’s look and name, there are other great options. For example, the Wisconsin Herd is cool as their logo is essentially the same of the Milwaukee Bucks but adding pasting two more deer. Also, both the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and Maine Red Claws are legendary as they’re unique names that hearken back to the days where the names of G League teams wasn’t a copy or variation of their NBA affiliate. In addition to the uniqueness, both of those names hold deep connections to the areas that they play in.