NBA G League

The NBA G League, or simply G League, formerly known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) and The NBA Development League (NBA D-League), are a minor professional basketball league founded and owned by the NBA. It serves as a league to develop not only the players, but also the coaches, officials, trainers, and front office staff as a means to prepare them for the NBA, which is its overseer. The league consists of 30 teams.
== Background ==
=== Introduction as the NBDL===
The league would begin in the 2001-02 season with eight franchises. 
=== NBA D League ===
The league changed its name for to the NBA D League in 2005. In this period, the league started to expand more by buying existing teams or expansions, NBA teams owning the teams, or teams with no affiliation to an NBA team. 
=== Current Name ===
The D League became the Gatorade League (shortened to the G League) in 2017 after Gatorade became the title sponsor for the league's name, starting on the 2017-2018 season. A couple of teams either relocated, created as expansion teams, or rebranded in this current period. There are still talks today about expanding the league even more. A few rule changes have happened in this era such as G League contracts being offered to players who are at least 18 years old and not yet eligible for the NBA Draft.
== YouTube History ==
=== Introduction ===
The channel is created on May 9, 2008. They didn't post a video until January 12, 2010, when "NBA D-League FUTURECAST Promo" was uploaded. The video was promoting the now non-existent NBA Futurecast website which was a way to livestream NBA D-League games, see game recaps, highlights, and stats of the players. Videos after that had game highlights, D-League All-Star highlights, Gatorade Call-Ups which is when an NBA team signs or moves a D-League player up to their team, interviews, D-League draft content, and recaps. While it was a rare occurrence, they even posted full D-League games such as "Canton Charge 90, Maine Red Claws 103" where "Time Out On The Court" would be displayed when a quarter has ended or when there was a timeout called. During halftime, you could see the NBA top 10 plays of that week, or interviews of NBA players. 
=== Current ===
Though game highlights continue to be a factor of the now G-League's content on YouTube, there are also special events such as "Winter Showcase" or "Elite Camp" that the channel showcases. The G-League also features highlights for winners of awards at the end of a season as well as the Finals MVP of the G-League championships after the finals. Other content can include introductions to new G-League teams, G-League draft and expansion drafts, "All-Access", "Weekly G" livestreams, interviews, recaps of G-League call-ups to NBA teams and more. 
== Trivia ==
*The Ontario Clippers will be the San Diego Clippers in the 2024-25 season after they relocated from Ontario, California to Oceanside, California.
*The G League Ignite was the only team that only consist of players that didn't undergo college. It was established in 2020 as an alternate route from basketball college to the NBA draft. However, the team ended after the 2023-24 season. 
*In the league's inaugural draft, was the first pick. The player would go on to be the 2013 NBA Champion with The Miami Heat.
* became the first G-League player to participate in the NBA All-Star Dunk Contest. As a two-way contract player for The Philadelphia 76ers as he was playing for the Delaware Blue Coats, he won in 2023. He won the contest again in 2024 after he was invited back as an Osceola Magic player.
== References ==
Category: Sports YouTubers
Category: American YouTubers
Category: Users who joined in 2008