A New Brand of Professional Basketball Coming to PDX This Fall — Sport Oregon Voices
Trail Blazers heavy in launch preparations for the team’s new NBA G League team that begins play at the Chiles Center later this year
Portland has long proved to be a quality basketball town. And come this fall, area fans will have an exciting new brand of basketball to support, as the Portland Trail Blazers launch their new NBA G League team for the 2023-24 season.
The team announced its plans for its own G League team in April, and things are on an expedited time table as the organization gears up for the start of the 2023-24 G League season this fall.
Dewayne Hankins, president of business operations for the Trail Blazers, sees a great deal of upside for the team to have its own G League entry – which will play its home games at the Chiles Center on the campus of the University of Portland. He says the opportunity to start the developmental team from scratch has been energizing for the Trail Blazers staff and presents a lot of advantages, both on the business and basketball sides.
“We really wanted to start developing our players as soon as possible,” Hankins said. “Normally you’d take 12-18 months to ramp up something like this, and we’re doing it in half the time, which is exciting for our staff. We found an incredible partner in the University of Portland, to be able to play at the Chiles Center. We just think it’s a perfect fit.”
As the official development league for the NBA, the G League serves as a minor league companion to the NBA, preparing players, coaches, officials, trainers and front-office personnel, alike, for the NBA. While the Trail Blazers have benefitted from certain player-development aspects of the G League on a more limited scale in the past, launching their own team comes with distinct advantages and conveniences that the team hasn’t had in the past. Namely, having their own G League team gives the Trail Blazers more control over the development of its players on the basketball side, and provides inherent efficiencies with the team playing its games and practicing in Portland, oftentimes alongside the coaches and players from the NBA Trail Blazers.
On the business side, the Trail Blazers’ G League team will serve as a development ground for up-and-coming executives and support personnel. Hankins says that the team will largely be independent from the Trail Blazers in its staffing, with an estimated 10-15 employees dedicated to handling the wide-ranging operations for the G League team. He says there will be some overlap in staff, but that the G League team ideally will be a self-sufficient operation that provides its staff the opportunity to develop and eventually grow into bigger roles with the Trail Blazers.
Hankins credits the team’s assistant general manager, Mike Schmitz, and its senior vice president of innovation & technology, Christa Stout, for their leadership on the basketball and business sides, respectively, in the team’s launch preparations. This experienced leadership is no doubt critical, as there’s a lot to get done before first tip this fall.
But at the same time, there’s a great deal of excitement surrounding the expedited launch, and what it offers.
“What’s exciting about this opportunity for people is first of all, you get to help get it off the ground,” Hankins said. “Secondarily, it offers people the chance to experience different opportunities and grow within the organization and industry.”
The team is planning a grand launch event this summer. At that time, a lot of exciting, fan-facing details will begin to come into focus, including the team’s name, identity and brand. The leadership team is busy with many other details, including the design of the team uniforms, preparing the team’s practice facility to accommodate a second team, hiring of staff and finalizing ticketing and sponsorship details.
In terms of putting the inaugural season’s roster together, that process begins soon with an expansion draft in which the team can choose from players left unprotected by the other G League teams. From there, the team has the opportunity to add free agent players to round out the roster.
“You’re seeing some high-quality talent playing in the G-League,” Hankins said. “It’s where a lot of really good players go to develop and become true NBA stars. That’s going to be really fun for people to see these players come through Portland, and for fans to be able to watch players develop from their first day.”
The team has plans on offering a variety of game promotions and affordable, family-friendly elements to make Portland’s G League experience even more entertaining. The G League typically plays a 50-game season, offering area basketball fans plenty of opportunity to support their new professional basketball team at the Chiles Center. The NBA G League schedule traditionally comes out late summer.
“This town has done such a tremendous job over the years supporting all of its local sports teams,” said Hankins, “and [adding the G League team] allows us to have a relationship with area basketball fans at a really affordable price point.”
While there is still a lot of work to be done, Hankins and the rest of the Trail Blazers staff are more than ready for this unique opportunity.
“We’ll be ready to rock come the fall when the season starts.”
To Learn More
For more information on Portland’s new NBA G League team as it develops, go to www.ripcitygleague.com. The site includes information on the team’s ticketing and sponsorships plans, and gives fans the opportunity to sign up for all the latest news as it becomes available.