The
NBA Development League, or
NBA D-League, is the
National Basketball Association's official
minor league basketball organization. Known until the summer of 2005 as the
National Basketball Development League (
NBDL), the NBA D-League started with eight teams in the fall of 2001. In March 2005, NBA commissioner
David Stern announced a plan to expand the NBA D-League to fifteen teams and develop it into a true
minor league farm system, with each NBA D-League team affiliated with one or more NBA teams. At the conclusion of the
2013–14 NBA season, 33% of NBA players had spent time in the NBA D-League, up from 23% in 2011. Beginning in the
2015–16 NBA Development League season, the league will consist of 19 teams; all of whom will be either single-affiliated or owned by an NBA team. The
Fort Wayne Mad Ants had been the lone exception, until they were acquired by the
Indiana Pacers in September 2015.