NBA G League awards and honors
Championship
Individual awards
Honors

The NBA G League Finals is the championship game or series for the NBA G League and the conclusion of the league's postseason. The league was previously known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005 and the National Basketball Association Development League (NBA D-League) from 2005 to 2017.

Since the league's inception in 2001–02, a variety of formats has been used to determine the champion. From the inaugural postseason in 2002 until 2006, the four teams with the best records advanced to the postseason.[1][2][3][4][5] In the first two seasons, both the semifinal round and the Finals were held in a best-of-three format.[1][2] Then, between 2004 and 2007, the playoffs used a single-elimination tournament among the four teams, with two semifinal games and one winner-take-all championship match.[3][4][5][6]

In 2007, the league expanded to twelve teams and was divided into Eastern and Western Conferences, comprising of six teams each.[6] All playoff rounds were one game each, ending with the Eastern Conference's Dakota Wizards winning the championship 129–121 in overtime against the Colorado 14ers.[6] The best-of-three format for the Finals returned in 2008.[6][7][8][9] With the league's continued expansion to fourteen teams in 2008 and sixteen teams in 2009, the two-conference format was replaced with a three-division format consisting of Western, Southwestern and Central Divisions.[7][8] Both the 2008 and 2009 NBADL championship series were between teams representing the Western and Southwestern Divisions, with no Central teams making it to the finals.[7][8] The 2009-10 season saw a reformatting to having Eastern and Western Conferences, with the 2012-13 season being the only one with a third conference named as the Central and the 2013-14 season having just Divisions rather than conferences. Due to there being two more teams in the Western Conference (nine) than the Eastern Conference (seven), and because the top eight teams with the best regular season records qualified for the postseason irrespective of conference, the 2010 and 2012 NBADL Finals consisted of two Western Conference teams.[9] Finally, in the 2014-15 season, the playoff structure was changed so the teams were separated by conference in seeding. The 2021 edition of the Finals was a one-game match, which equaled the amount of games played for the other playoff rounds as played by the eight teams that were seeded solely by record. The league returned to the best-of-three format for the Finals in 2022.

The Rio Grande Valley Vipers lead the league in championship appearances (seven) and championships (four).

Key

Bold Winning team of the Finals
† Had or tied for the best regular season record for that season
Team (X) Denotes the number of times the team has won
(also includes past names of franchise, if applicable)

Champions

Year Champion Division Coach Result Runner-up Division Coach
2002[1] Greenville Groove† — Milton Barnes 2–0 North Charleston Lowgators† — Alex English
2003[2] Mobile Revelers Sam Vincent 2–1 Fayetteville Patriots† Jeff Capel II
2004[3] Asheville Altitude† Joey Meyer 108–106 (OT)[a] Huntsville Flight Ralph Lewis
2005[4] Asheville Altitude (2) Joey Meyer 90–67[b] Columbus Riverdragons† Jeff Malone
2006[5] Albuquerque Thunderbirds Michael Cooper 119–108[c] Fort Worth Flyers† Sam Vincent
2007[6] Dakota Wizards† Eastern Dave Joerger 129–121 (OT)[d] Colorado 14ers Western Joe Wolf
2008[7] Idaho Stampede† Western Bryan Gates 2–1 Austin Toros Southwest Quin Snyder
2009[8] Colorado 14ers† Southwest Bob MacKinnon Jr 2–0 Utah Flash Western Brad Jones
Year Champion Conference Coach Result Runner-up Conference Coach
2010[9] Rio Grande Valley Vipers Western Chris Finch 2–0 Oklahoma City Blue Western Nate Tibbetts
2011[10] Iowa Energy† Eastern Nick Nurse 2–1 Rio Grande Valley Vipers Western Chris Finch
2012[11] Austin Toros Western Brad Jones 2–1 Los Angeles D-Fenders† Western Eric Musselman
2013[12] Rio Grande Valley Vipers (2) Central Nick Nurse 2–0 Santa Cruz Warriors Western Nate Bjorkgren
2014[13] Fort Wayne Mad Ants† Eastern Conner Henry 2–0 Santa Cruz Warriors Western Casey Hill
2015[14] Santa Cruz Warriors† (2) Western Casey Hill 2–0 Fort Wayne Mad Ants Eastern Conner Henry
2016[15] Sioux Falls Skyforce† Eastern Dan Craig 2–1 Los Angeles D-Fenders Western Casey Owens
2017[16] Raptors 905† Eastern Jerry Stackhouse 2–1 Rio Grande Valley Vipers Western Matt Brase
2018[17] Austin Spurs† (2) Western Blake Ahearn 2–0 Raptors 905 Eastern Jerry Stackhouse
2019 Rio Grande Valley Vipers† (3) Western Joseph Blair 2–1 Long Island Nets† Eastern Will Weaver
2020 No NBA G League playoffs due to the COVID-19 pandemic[18]
2021 Lakeland Magic — Stan Heath 97–78[e] Delaware Blue Coats — Connor Johnson
2022 Rio Grande Valley Vipers (4) Western Mahmoud Abdelfattah 2–0 Delaware Blue Coats Eastern Coby Karl
2023 Delaware Blue Coats Eastern Coby Karl 2–0 Rio Grande Valley Vipers Western Kevin Burleson
2024 Oklahoma City Blue Western Kameron Woods 2–1 Maine Celtics Eastern Blaine Mueller

Results by teams

Teams Finals
appearances		 Championships Runners-up Years won Years runners-up Playoff appearances
Rio Grande Valley Vipers 7 4 3 2010, 2013, 2019, 2022 2011, 2017, 2023 12
Dakota Wizards / Santa Cruz Warriors[f] 4 2 2 2007, 2015 2013, 2014 13
Columbus Riverdragons / Austin Toros[b] / Austin Spurs 4 2 2 2012, 2018 2005, 2008 11
Asheville Altitude / Tulsa 66ers[a] / Oklahoma City Blue 4 3 1 2004, 2005, 2024 2010 10
Utah Flash / Delaware 87ers / Delaware Blue Coats 4 1 3 2023 2009, 2021, 2022 7
Huntsville Flight / Albuquerque Thunderbirds /
New Mexico Thunderbirds / Canton Charge / Cleveland Charge[d]		 2 1 1 2006 2004 11
Colorado 14ers / Texas Legends[c] 2 1 1 2009 2007 6
Fort Wayne Mad Ants 2 1 1 2014 2015 7
Raptors 905 2 1 1 2017 2018 5
Greenville Groove 1 1 0 2002 — 1
Mobile Revelers 1 1 0 2003 — 2
Idaho Stampede / Salt Lake City Stars 1 1 0 2008 — 6
Iowa Energy / Iowa Wolves 1 1 0 2011 — 5
Sioux Falls Skyforce 1 1 0 2016 — 8
Erie BayHawks / Lakeland Magic / Osceola Magic 1 1 0 2021 — 7
Los Angeles D-Fenders / South Bay Lakers 2 0 2 — 2012, 2016 8
North Charleston Lowgators / Charleston Lowgators / Florida Flame[e] 1 0 1 — 2002 4
Fayetteville Patriots 1 0 1 — 2003 2
Fort Worth Flyers 1 0 1 — 2006 2
Long Island Nets 1 0 1 — 2019 4
Agua Caliente / San Diego Clippers 0 — — — — 1
Bakersfield Jam / Northern Arizona Suns / Motor City Cruise 0 — — — — 6
Capital City Go-Go 0 — — — — 3
Erie BayHawks / College Park Skyhawks 0 — — — — 2
Erie BayHawks / Birmingham Squadron 0 — — — — 2
Grand Rapids Drive 0 — — — — 3
Greensboro Swarm 0 — — — — 0
Maine Celtics 1 0 1 2024 6
Memphis Hustle 0 — — — — 2
Reno Bighorns / Stockton Kings 0 — — — — 8
Westchester Knicks 0 — — — — 3
Windy City Bulls 0 — — — — 1
Wisconsin Herd 0 — — — — 0
Rip City Remix 0 — — — — 0
Capitanes de Ciudad de México 0 — — — — 0
NBA G League Ignite 0 0 0 0 0 1

See also

Notes

  1. ^ One-game championship
  2. ^ One-game championship
  3. ^ One-game championship
  4. ^ One-game championship
  5. ^ One-game championship

References

  1. ^ a b c "2001–02 NBDL season summary". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
  2. ^ a b c "2002–03 NBDL season summary". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
  3. ^ a b c "2003–04 NBDL season summary". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
  4. ^ a b c "2004–05 NBDL season summary". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
  5. ^ a b c "2005–06 NBA Development League season summary". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
  6. ^ a b c d e "2006–07 NBA Development League season summary". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
  7. ^ a b c d "2007–08 NBA Development League season summary". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
  8. ^ a b c d "2008–09 NBA Development League season summary". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
  9. ^ a b c "2009–10 NBA Development League season summary". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
  10. ^ Emmert, Mark (April 29, 2011). "Iowa Energy Win NBA D-League Championship". Des Moines Register. Retrieved May 2, 2011.[permanent dead link]
  11. ^ "Dentmon, Austin top Los Angeles for D-League crown". Fox News. April 29, 2012. Retrieved April 29, 2012.
  12. ^ "Warriors Fall to Rio Grande Vipers in NBA D-League Finals". NBA.com. April 27, 2013. Archived from the original on April 27, 2013. Retrieved April 27, 2013.
  13. ^ "Fort Wayne Mad Ants Capture 2014 NBA Development League Title". NBA.com. April 26, 2014. Archived from the original on April 29, 2014. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
  14. ^ "Title Wave: Santa Cruz Wins NBA D-League Championship". NBA.com. April 26, 2015. Retrieved April 26, 2015.
  15. ^ "Sioux Falls Skyforce Cap Historic Season with First NBA D-League". NBA.com. April 27, 2016. Retrieved April 27, 2016.
  16. ^ "One For the 905! Raptors Affiliate Takes Home Title". NBA.com. April 27, 2017. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
  17. ^ "Austin Spurs Win 2018 NBA G League Championship". NBA.com. April 10, 2018. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  18. ^ "NBA G League Cancels Remainder of 2019-20 Season". NBA G League. 2020-06-04. Retrieved 2020-06-04.
  19. ^ a b c d e "National Basketball Development League Facts: NBDL Membership Chronology 2002–2007". apbr.org. Association for Professional Basketball Research. 2008. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
  20. ^ "NBA League Development Team Comes to Frisco; Colorado 14ers to Move Operations". ci.frisco.tx.us. June 18, 2009. Archived from the original on July 21, 2011. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
  21. ^ Hubert, Matt (August 18, 2010). "D-League 101: D-League Franchise History". D-League Digest. dleaguedigest.com. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
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