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Silver hopes to have non-affiliated G League team in Mexico next season

The Washington Post / Getty

NBA commissioner Adam Silver says he is getting closer to placing a G League team in Mexico City for next season.

"We're in the third quarter, whatever the appropriate analogy is," Silver told reporters Thursday before the NBA Mexico City Games tipped off with a contest between the Chicago Bulls and Orlando Magic. "Frankly we're hopeful that in the next few weeks we have more to say on that. And our goal is to have a G League team planting a flag here in Mexico City next season."

The G League currently has 27 teams, with a New Orleans Pelicans affiliate scheduled to be added in Birmingham, Ala., next season. That will leave two NBA franchises - the Denver Nuggets and Portland Trail Blazers - without G League squads.

However, Silver insisted the Mexico entry would not be affiliated with an NBA team.

"It would be our first G League team that would ... not be associated with an NBA team," he said.

In recent years, clubs have tended to place G League affiliates in communities close to their NBA markets. Geographically, Mexico City would be the most remote G League location, some 600 miles from the U.S. border.

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