NBA Gatorade League
Current season, competition or edition: 2017–18 NBA Gatorade League season
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NBA Development League logo
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| Sport | Basketball |
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| Founded | 2001 |
| Inaugural season | 2001–02 |
| President | Malcolm Turner |
| No. of teams | 22 (26 in 2017–18) |
| Country | United States, Canada |
| Continent | FIBA Americas |
| Most recent champion(s) |
Raptors 905 (1st title) |
| Most titles | Three teams (2 titles) |
| TV partner(s) | ESPN/NBA TV/NBA TV Canada/Facebook Live |
| Official website | D-League.NBA.com |
The NBA Gatorade League, or NBA G-League, is the National Basketball Association's official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA Development League (D-League) from 2005 until 2017. The league started with eight teams until 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 in March 2005. 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. As of the 2017–18 season, the league consists of 26 teams; all of whom are either single-affiliated or owned by an NBA team.
For the 2017–18 season, the league rebranded to become the NBA Gatorade League as part of multi-year partnership with Gatorade and its parent company, PepsiCo.
The league began its play as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) in the 2001–02 season; the original eight franchises were all located in the southeastern United States (specifically in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia).
In 2005, some of these teams were purchased by private owners and relocated—at the same time the league's name was changed to NBA Development League (NBA D-League) in a bid to appeal to more fans nationwide. As a result, franchises were established in or moved to Texas, New Mexico, Arkansas, Florida, and Oklahoma. In February 2006, the D-League expanded to California for the first time with the addition of the Bakersfield Jam. Two months later, the league announced that four teams from the Continental Basketball Association were joining the league: the Dakota Wizards, Sioux Falls Skyforce, Idaho Stampede, and a team originally slated for CBA expansion, the Colorado 14ers. Shortly after, the league announced expansion teams in the Anaheim Arsenal and the Los Angeles D-Fenders. The D-Fenders became the first D-League team to be directly owned by an NBA parent team, the Los Angeles Lakers.
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