The league made sponsorship deals with Reebok and television broadcasting deals with ESPN2 and Fox Sports South to broadcast select games during the first season (such as the NBDL Finals), which made them one of few minor league operations to have nationally televised games.

The Greenville Groove won the first NBDL championship on April 8, 2002, after winning game 2 over the North Charleston Lowgators.

[10] In the same offseason, Southwest Basketball, LLC led by David Kahn received league permission to operate four new teams.

[11] Southwest Basketball purchased three existing franchises and one expansion team: the Albuquerque Thunderbirds, Austin Toros, Fort Worth Flyers,[12] and Tulsa 66ers.

[14] Shortly after, the league announced expansion teams in the Anaheim Arsenal[15] and the Los Angeles D-Fenders.

[16] However, the westward expansion contributed to the contraction of the NBA-owned Roanoke Dazzle[17] and Fayetteville Patriots for that season.

In 2009, the Houston Rockets entered into the first single-affiliation partnership, called the hybrid model, with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.

This began a trend of NBA and D-League teams entering into single-affiliation agreements of both the hybrid and parent-team owned varieties.

[23][24] It also continued its membership changes with the relocation of the Erie BayHawks to Lakeland, Florida, as the Lakeland Magic, a new Erie BayHawks franchise, and expansions in the Agua Caliente Clippers in Ontario, California (now known as the San Diego Clippers), the Memphis Hustle in Southaven, Mississippi, and the Wisconsin Herd in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

[27] For the 2019–20 season, the G League began to offer select contracts to players who are not yet eligible to enter the NBA draft.

[38][39] In April 2023, the Portland Trail Blazers announced they would be launching their affiliate, the Rip City Remix, beginning with the 2023–24 season.

[42] In 2009, the Houston Rockets and Rio Grande Valley Vipers pioneered the single-affiliate partnership, also known as the hybrid model.

In November 2010, the New Jersey Nets and Springfield Armor announced they would enter into a single-affiliate partnership that began in 2011–12.

In June 2013, the Miami Heat announced that they had entered into a single-affiliated partnership with the Sioux Falls Skyforce.

On March 24, 2015, the Utah Jazz purchased their affiliate, the Idaho Stampede, and, after one more season in Boise, relocated the team to Salt Lake City.

[46] On December 14, 2016, the Magic purchased their affiliate, the Erie BayHawks, with the intention to relocate the team to Lakeland, Florida, in 2017.

On December 12, 2019, the Mexico City Capitanes, which had been playing in the Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional, was announced as joining the NBA G League as an independent team in the 2020–21 season on a five-year agreement.

[55] The NBA G League draft occurs each season and is the major source from which teams build their rosters.

The league holds an annual Player Invitational, where prospects hope to earn eligibility for the upcoming draft.

[62] The league's newest CBA, which took effect with the 2023–24 season, increases the per-team limit on two-way contracts to three.

[66] Late in the season, restrictions were further lifted, allowing them to play more than 50 games as well as being eligible for the NBA playoffs.

Bobby Simmons, Aaron Brooks, and Pascal Siakam are the only former D-League players to win an NBA end-of-season award; all won the Most Improved Player Award, with Simmons getting it with the Los Angeles Clippers in 2004–05, Brooks earning it with the Houston Rockets in 2009–10 and Siakam receiving it with the Toronto Raptors in the 2018-19 NBA season.

[73][74] The league held its first All-Star game February 17, 2007, at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

[75] The second annual All-Star game was held on February 16, 2008, at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans.

[77] Along with the All-Star game, the NBA D-League ran their second annual Dream Factory Friday Night events.

Bakersfield Jam center Brian Butch, who scored 18 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, was named as the MVP of the game.

The inaugural Shooting Stars Competition was won by a team of Pat Carroll, Trey Gilder and Carlos Powell.

In 2018, it was replaced by a game between G League all-stars and the Mexico national team held in Los Angeles.

[citation needed] As of 2019, the event's location was the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.

[citation needed] Before Las Vegas, host cities were Columbus, Georgia (2005); Fayetteville, North Carolina (2006); Sioux Falls, South Dakota (2007); Boise, Idaho (2008); Orem, Utah (2009); Boise, Idaho (2010); South Padre Island, Texas (2011); Reno, Nevada in 2012 and 2013; Santa Cruz, California in 2015; and Mississauga, Ontario in 2017 and 2018.