Golden State Warriors' majority owner Joe Lacob said that he had some big news to announce Monday afternoon, and after some speculation and here say the team made the announcement Tuesday that they have purchased the D-League's Dakota Wizards from the Bismarck Professional Basketball LLC. Per team policy, terms of the agreement were not divulged. The Warriors now join the Lakers, Spurs and Thunder as NBA teams that own D-League teams. Make the jump to learn more.
The Wizards will remain in Bismarck, North Dakota for the 2011-12 season, but likely will look to be relocated to somewhere around the Bay Area. Jim Weyermann, current President of the San Jose Giants, has been named Vice President of New Franchise Development and will oversee all operational aspects of the team from a business perspective, bolstering the opinion that the W's are trying to move the team to San Jose.
The Warriors current D-League team, the Reno Bighorns, will cut ties with the W's, marking the third D-League team to be affiliated with Golden State (Bakersfield Jam 2006-09). Here's a little of what Lacob had to say during their announcement conference call:
"We're really excited about the opportunity to acquire an NBA D-League team and view it as a proactive decision. As we have previously mentioned, one of our goals is to provide our organization with any elements that we think could provide us an advantage. The fact that we will now operate our own D-League team - complete with our coaches and organizational philosophy - will put us in a better position to evaluate and develop potential NBA players, including any of our first or second year players who may spend a stint in the D-League. We think this is a critical step and another plus for our organization."
This seemingly is a underwhelming announcement by the W's, but could pay big dividends down the road financially and on the court for Golden State, especially seeing that the other teams that own their own developmental franchise are basically perennial playoff teams. Going to be interesting to see how this all pans out.