WASHINGTON — Show up at Verizon Center Sunday for your chance to play professional basketball.
No, really.
That’s what the Fort Wayne Mad Ants are offering. If you’ve never heard of the Mad Ants, that’s OK. You’ve probably heard of the teams their players have moved on to — the Detroit Pistons, Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks and Golden State Warriors.
The Mad Ants play in the NBA’s Developmental League, or D-League. They are also its most unusual, facing an incredibly challenging but potentially prosperous opportunity this season.
The D-League is still finding its footing, and has neither the structure nor depth of baseball’s minor league affiliations. Eighteen D-League teams feed the NBA’s 30 franchises, and 17 of those 18 are affiliated with a single club. The Mad Ants are the 18th, an anomaly and a feeder for the 13 remaining clubs, including the Washington Wizards.
Some teams are in the same cities as their parent clubs, like the Oklahoma City Thunder D-League Team or the Los Angeles D-Fenders, both of which are fully owned and operated by the parent club. Of the other five teams that own their D-League teams, the Golden State Warriors (Santa Cruz Warriors) and San Antonio Spurs (Austin Toros) have their affiliates in nearby metro areas. Nine other teams operate under a hybrid affiliation similar to that in Minor League Baseball, in which the NBA team manages and funds basketball operations while a separate, local entity owns and operates the business and community relations aspects of the team.
And then there are the Mad Ants.
“We’re in a little bit of a different situation,” laughed head coach Conner Henry in an interview with WTOP’s Dave Johnson. “Last year we had five [affiliates]; this year, we have 13. So there’s going to be challenges, but we also feel like there’s going to be an opportunity.”
The opportunity lies in the Mad Ants’ ability to barnstorm the country for open tryouts in each of the cities with which they have an affiliate NBA team. That includes talent-rich metropolitan areas such as Chicago (Bulls), Brooklyn (Nets) and Washington.
“Our owner was interested in it,” explains Mad Ants Director of Player Personnel Kevin Bloom. “Our hope was that going into these different markets would give us a chance to find some great talent, find someone that may not be on our radar.”
One such success story came from the Mad Ants’ first open tryout in Fort Wayne. After not being chosen in the NBA Draft, former Marquette/Valparaiso standout Ron Howard was selected by the Mad Ants in the 7th round of the 2007 NBA D-League Draft. He has since has stints with the Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers, using Fort Wayne as his springboard to the league. Earlier this year, Howard set the NBA D-League scoring record and won the 2013-14 league championship with the Mad Ants.
Hunter
␎ 
Chris Hunter (left) shoots over Los Angeles Lakers forward Lamar Odom. (Getty Images/Jeff Gross)
Oliver Lafayette played for the Mad Ants in 2009-10 and was signed by the Celtics, where he played in exactly one NBA game. Chris Hunter had multiple stints with the Mad Ants over several years and saw time with both the Knicks and Golden State Warriors.
Even players such as Titus Robinson, who averaged fewer than 5.5 points and 3 rebounds per game over a four-year college career at the University of Buffalo, found a chance in the D-League.
“We want to find guys that play hard,” says Henry. “You get a shot. That door opens. And if you can step through there and play hard and play well enough, all you have to do is impress one guy, and that’s the head coach.”
You don’t have to have been a major college star, or even have major college basketball experience, to be a good candidate for the Mad Ants. Henry explained that they aren’t on the lookout for 20-point scorers, but hard workers with high basketball IQs — players who know how to make the extra pass, dive for a loose ball and generally make the players around them better. And Henry knows those guys come in all shapes and sizes, with all different sorts of resumes.
“There’s numerous examples of guys who either played collegiately or, for whatever reason, didn’t go to college — had an injury, had a family situation, and never really got to play,” Henry told Johnson.
The Mad Ants found the right combination of those guys to put together a championship team last season. This season, you could be a part of it.
“It’s a great opportunity to showcase your skills and it’s going to be a great experience,” says Bloom. “Not that many people get the chance to try out for a professional basketball team.”
You can still register with a $200 money order or cashier’s check made out to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, and can download an application on the Mad Ants’ website.
Registration begins at 8 a.m. and tryouts will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Follow @WTOP and @WTOPSports on Twitter and WTOP on Facebook.
