The Salt Lake City Stars announced Friday they will be among the 18 NBA G League teams participating in a truncated season and playoff tournament to occur at the same ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando, Fla., where the NBA restart bubble took place.
The season will feature an as-yet-unknown number of games, which will begin sometime in February. The top eight teams then will advance to a single-elimination playoff.
“While we are disappointed that we will not be able to play in front of our fans in Salt Lake City, we fully support the league’s decision and appreciate the amount of effort by so many that has gone into finding a workable solution to be able to play a 2020-21 NBA G League season,” Stars President Jonathan Rinehart said in a statement. “We look forward to the opportunity to once again host games in Utah in the future.”
The G League affiliate of the Utah Jazz will join 16 other returning G League teams, as well as the new G League Ignite team, which features several top prospects for the 2021 NBA Draft.
A complete schedule, roster and broadcast information for the Stars will be announced later. NBA teams that do not have a G League affiliate participating in the bubble will be able to assign roster players and transfer two-way players using newly flexible assignment rules.
Those participating will be living in the Walt Disney World campus for the duration of their stay, like the NBA teams did before them.
The Stars had the best record in the Western Conference at 30-12 (.714) during the 2019-20 season. They will be led by new head coach Nathan Peavy, a former assistant under the since-departed Martin Schiller.
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