# 2018 NAPB season

The 2018 NAPB season was the inaugural season for the North American Premier Basketball. For 2018, the league consists of eight teams: the Albany Patroons, Kansas City Tornados, Kentucky Thoroughbreds, Nevada Desert Dogs, Ohio Cardinals, Rochester Razorsharks, Vancouver Knights, and Yakima SunKings.
The Ohio Cardinals were replaced after 23 games by the Ohio Bootleggers, a semi-professional team in the North American Basketball League that also apparently had taken over operations of the Vancouver Knights sometime during the season. The Knights also had become a travel team at that point and was transferred to a new ownership group that was never identified.
The season ended with the SunKings defeating the Patroons two-games-to-none in the best-of-three finals to win the inaugural NAPB championship.

## Standings

Final standings:
| Team | W | L | PCT | GB |
| Yakima SunKings | 24 | 8 | .742 | 0 |
| Albany Patroons | 19 | 10 | .655 | 3.5 |
| Ohio Cardinals/Bootleggers | 17 | 11 | .607 | 5.0 |
| Kansas City Tornados | 15 | 15 | .500 | 8.0 |
| Nevada Desert Dogs | 14 | 15 | .483 | 8.5 |
| Kentucky Thoroughbreds | 14 | 19 | .424 | 10.5 |
| Rochester Razorsharks | 11 | 18 | .379 | 11.5 |
| Vancouver Knights | 7 | 25 | .219 | 17.0 |
* ↑ The Cardinals earned a 12–11 record prior to the ownership transfer and is counted towards the Bootleggers' record in the NAPB standings.

## Season award winners

| Award | Winner | Team |
| Most Valuable Player | Edwin Ubiles | Albany Patroons |
| Rookie of the Year | Xavier Moon | Albany Patroons |
| Defensive Player of the Year | Renaldo Major | Yakima SunKings |
| Person of the Year | Jelan Kendrick | Nevada Desert Dogs |
| Newcomer of the Year | Charlton Jones | Kansas City Tornados |
| 6 Man of the Year | A.J Gaines | Nevada Desert Dogs |
| Coach of the Year | Paul Woolpert | Yakima SunKings |
Source:

## Playoffs

There were eight teams in the league with the top four teams seeded one to four for the playoffs. Each round of the playoffs were played a best-of-three series.
| Semifinals (Best-of-3) | Semifinals (Best-of-3) | Semifinals (Best-of-3) | Finals (Best-of-3) | Finals (Best-of-3) | Finals (Best-of-3) |
| 1 | Yakima SunKings | 2 | | | |
| 4 | Kansas City Tornados | 1 | | | |
| 4 | Kansas City Tornados | 1 | 1 | Yakima SunKings | 2 |
| | | | 2 | Albany Patroons | 0 |
| 2 | Albany Patroons | 2 | 2 | Albany Patroons | 0 |
| 3 | Ohio Bootleggers | 1 | | | |

## Draft

The inaugural player draft for the league was held on December 3, 2017, and the league's eight charter teams took turns selecting players who had all competed at the college level in the United States at some point.
Vance Cooksey of Youngstown State University was the first overall NAPB selection taken by Vancouver Knights. Consequently, this makes him the first-ever selection in the history of the league.
Although some of the players chosen in the draft had played semi-professional or professional basketball after college graduation, only the United States colleges they attended are listed.
| Pos. | G | F | C |
| Position | Guard | Forward | Center |
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | Nationality | Team | College | Year graduated |
| 1 | 1 | Vance Cooksey | F/C | United States | Vancouver Knights | Youngstown State | 2011 |
| 1 | 2 | Jackson Trapp | G | United States | Yakima Sun Kings | Florida Atlantic University | 2016 |
| 1 | 3 | Glennroy Carr | F | United States | Rochester RazorSharks | Buffalo State University | 2011 |
| 1 | 4 | Luke Cochran | F | United States | Nevada Desert Dogs | Sonoma State University | 2017 |
| 1 | 5 | Chris Langoria | G | United States | Kansas City Tornados | Valdosta State University | 2016 |
| 1 | 6 | Iman Johnson | F | United States | Kentucky Thoroughbreds | Samford University | 2016 |
| 1 | 7 | Tony Anderson | G | United States | Ohio Cardinals | Southeast Missouri State | 2016 |
| 1 | 8 | Steven Cunningham | G | United States | Albany Patroons | Troy University | 2012 |
| 2 | 9 | Alonzo Murphy | F | United States | Vancouver Knights | Lincoln University | 2015 |
| 2 | 10 | Devonte Luckett | F | United States | Yakima Sun Kings | Yakima Valley Community College | 2016 |
| 2 | 11 | Isaiah Thomas | G | United States | Rochester RazorSharks | Southeastern Illinois College | 2016 |
| 2 | 12 | Anthony Strickland | F | United States | Nevada Desert Dogs | South Suburban College | 2017 |
| 2 | 13 | Jordan Stotts | F | United States | Kansas City Tornados | University of Sioux Falls | 2016 |
| 2 | 14 | Bright Mensah | G | United States | Kentucky Thoroughbreds | William Paterson University | 2016 |
| 2 | 15 | Eddie Hayden | G | United States | Ohio Cardinals | West Virginia Tech | 2012 |
| 2 | 16 | Anthony Estes | G | United States | Albany Patroons | North Carolina A&T | 2015 |