Sources: Clippers exploring D-League expansion team in Bakersfield for 2016-17

The Los Angeles Clippers are looking into starting an expansion D-League affiliate in Bakersfield, CA, multiple league sources have told Upside & Motor. With the ever-growing popularity of the NBADL and expanding uses for NBA clubs, this isn’t all that surprising and the Clippers experiences with their assignees this season may spurn this move forward.

There are constant changes, updates and new things popping up in the D-League and the 2015-16 season was no different with the league enacting a brand new rule called the “Flex Assignment Rule.” This was a necessity for NBA teams without their own affiliate in the minor league, because for the first time in league history, every single team is affiliated with an NBA club — that means no shared team for non-affiliate franchises.

In season’s past the Fort Wayne Mad Ants were the team to send assignment players to if teams did not have their own affiliate. However, once they were purchased by the Indiana Pacers, that all changed. Now players can be sent to any of the 19 D-League teams, and just because a player went to one team on a specific assignment has no bearing on where they end up if they are assigned again later in the season.

Non-affiliate NBA clubs used the flex rule to its potential this season with 15 flex assignees totalling 162 games played in the D-League. Only the Denver Nuggets, Washington Wizards, New Orleans Pelicans and Brooklyn Nets failed to take advantage of this tool by not sending any players to the minor league at their disposal.

One team who utilized this new rule frequently this season was the Los Angeles Clippers. Doc Rivers and the Clippers have a well-established roster full of veterans and older players. They are currently the third oldest team (average age is 29.3) in the league behind only the San Antonio Spurs and the Dallas Mavericks. One thing all those teams have in common is that they are playoff teams, which means finding minutes for young, unproven players is a task.

CJ Wilcox (25) and Branden Dawson (23) are two of those newbies that need minutes, but since Rivers couldn’t acquiesce in the NBA they were placed on assignment for a combined 50 games. Due to the flex assignment rule, those games were split between four different teams.

• CJ Wilcox: 14 games with Canton Charge; 7 with Bakersfield Jam
• Branden Dawson: 15 games with Grand Rapids Drive; 8 with Erie BayHawks; 6 with Bakersfield Jam

While the live-game experience for these players is ultimately invaluable, you can imagine the difficulty they face when they go to a new environment — they aren’t connected with that organization in any fashion and they have to try and learn new schemes in order to help that club win. That’s a lot to take in! Those things don’t happen when an NBA club has their own affiliate. The lingo, offensive schemes and defensive schemes are all the same, and all the coaches likely know the players already because they are part of the same organization.

Heading into the 2016-17 season there are only eight teams left without their own affiliate — Atlanta Hawks, Denver Nuggets, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves, New Orleans Pelicans, Portland Trail Blazers, Washington Wizards and the Los Angeles Clippers — and the Clippers have a viable opportunity to remove themselves from that list. Earlier this week the Phoenix Suns purchased the Bakersfield Jam — they previously held a hybrid affiliation with the club — and announced they will move the team to Prescott Valley, AZ and change the name to the Northern Arizona Suns.

This is important to the Clippers because it now leaves a void in Bakersfield, CA and the ownership tandem of Stan Ellis and David Higdon want a team there for the 2016-17 season. Even more important is that the D-League President Malcolm Turner is doing all he can to assist Bakersfield. The press release sent out following the Suns’ purchase was quite telling.

"“Stan Ellis and David Higdon are currently working with the NBA and NBA D-League to bring a new D-League expansion franchise to Bakersfield for the 2016-17 season. Several NBA teams have expressed their interest in having a team in place next season to play at the Dignity Health Event Center. “Bakersfield has been an excellent NBA D-League market and owners Stan Ellis and David Higdon have been great partners over the last 10 seasons,” said Malcolm Turner, NBA D-League President. “We will continue to assist Stan and David as they look to bring another NBA D-League team to the Dignity Health Event Center.”"

Of the eight teams still without an affiliate the Clippers make the most sense for this location. Teams who are starting expansion D-League clubs are highly motivated by proximity and Bakersfield is about a two-hour drive — sans traffic, of course — from Los Angeles, so transportation would be optimal for sending and recalling their players. Just four months ago Doc Rivers talked about the importance of the league with the Orange County Register’s Dan Woike:

"“I believe that we all need one,” Rivers said. “ … I believe that every team should have a D-League team. I hope that happens one day. I think it would help in a lot of ways, not just in the ways that we see right now. I think it would eventually help in even the college kids coming out and almost create a farm system. But I don’t know if that’s around the corner.”"

Rivers also touched on the process when looking for a team to take their assignees in the current system. “All we do is, we call every team and ask, ‘Can he play? Will you play him a certain amount of minutes?’” Rivers said. “The first team that says ‘Yes,’ that’s where he’s going. We don’t want to send him anywhere and not play, so that’s the thing.”

Again, not ideal when teams are trying to build up young talent to potentially replace aging veterans in future seasons. Wilcox is signed through 2018-19 and Dawson is on the books through 2017-18. Clearly the Clippers have an immediate need to develop these players into viable options to bring off the bench in the future. The Clippers also hold a first round pick (25th) and a second round pick (33rd) in the 2016 NBA Draft, so they will theoretically have two more young players in the mix next season, which is all the more reason to have their own D-League team.

This particular situation is different than most because all of the logistics are already in place. All the Clippers need to do is make their decision and shell out the estimated $7 million and they will have their own affiliate. Granted that’s the cliff notes version of the process, but the important piece to take away is that it’s possible the Los Angeles Clippers could have their own D-League affiliate playing in Bakersfield, CA to start the 2016-17 season.