The NBA Will Put A G League Team In Mexico City

The NBA has made no secret that it has aspirations of becoming a global sports league. This, unsurprisingly, means that the league hopes it is able to influence the game in all corners of the world, but in a more literal sense, this means that the NBA wants to be responsible for competitive basketball games happening everywhere.

This has happened in the NBA with teams going abroad and playing in places like Europe and Asia, and on Thursday, things took the next logical step. In a bit of news first reported by Shams Charania of The Athletic, the league announced that it would put a G League team in Mexico City.

The news was, indeed, announced by the league soon after in a press conference by Silver.

The G League will bring Capitanes, which currently plays in Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional, into the fold. In a statement, NBA G League president Shareef Abdur-Rahim expressed his excitement over the news.

“The NBA G League has long been focused on growing the game in Latin America and internationally. Having a team in Mexico City is an important step in realizing that vision,” Abdur-Rahim said. “I’m proud to welcome Capitanes to the G League and look forward to watching the team play at Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera next season.”

As Silver mentioned in the above video, the league will play its 29th and 30th ever games in Mexico this year, the most it has played in any country outside of the United States and Canada. This will include Thursday’s tilt in Mexico City between the Mavericks and Pistons. Perhaps this will serve as a potential data point towards putting an NBA team in the city at some point, but for now, a history-making G League side will certainly suffice.