Strickland to Play for Mavericks in NBA Summer League
July 7, 2009 - NBA G League (G League)
Rio Grande Valley Vipers News Release
MCALLEN, TEXAS - The NBA D-League Rio Grande Valley Vipers announced today that Trent Strickland will play for the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Summer League presented by EA Sports July 10-through-19 at the Thomas & Mack Center and COX Pavilion in Las Vegas.
Strickland was in Mavericks free agent mini-camp in mid-June.
"I'm excited to be going. It's a great opportunity for me to show my skills, but to show how I have developed with the Vipers as well," Strickland said.
Strickland becomes the seventh Viper to take part in an NBA Summer League following yesterday's announcement that Kurt Looby and Marcus Hubbard would be on the NBA D-League select team, as well as last week's announcement that Jared Jordan will play for the Golden State Warriors. Last year, Aaron Brooks played for the Houston Rockets, C.J. Watson played for the Golden State Warriors and Desmon Farmer played for the Toronto Raptors.
One of only two players to play in all 50 games for the Vipers, and the only one to start every game, Strickland finished the season as the active team leader in scoring at 17.5 points per game. His 6.1 rebounds per game ranked second on the team. He scored in double- figures in each of the first 12 games of the season and 43 times over all, including a career-high 31 points on March 1 at Fort Wayne, on his way to receiving All-NBA Development League Honorable Mention.
Strickland has been spending the off-season as a member of the Vipers front office while taking part in the NBA Development League Team Apprentice program. He is participating in and learning about all aspects of sports business, from community appearances to ticket sales and corporate sponsorships.
The Rio Grande Valley Vipers are a professional basketball team in the NBA Development League (NBA D-League). The NBA Development League, founded in 2001, is the NBA's official minor league and featured 16 teams with direct affiliations to NBA teams during the 2008-09 season. This fall, two new NBA D-League teams will begin play in Portland, Maine and Springfield, Mass.-- the birthplace of basketball. Eighty-four former NBA Development League players were on 2008-09 NBA end-of-season rosters, amounting to almost 20 percent of NBA players, and the league continues to develop coaches, referees, and front office staff for the NBA and its teams. In fostering the league's connection to the community, its teams, players and staff promote health and wellness, support local needs and interests, and assist in educational development through NBA D-League Cares programs. The NBA D-League also advances the game of basketball as the research and development arm of the NBA. Throughout the season fans can watch all NBA D-League games on NBA Futurecast, the free live Web-streaming initiative found at nba.com/futurecast. The Vipers' NBA affiliate is the Houston Rockets.
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