Birmingham To Land Minor League Basketball Team

BIRMINGHAM, AL - The NBA's New Orleans Pelicans plan to announce intentions Wednesday to join the NBA’s developmental league, placing a team in Birmingham by 2021, when renovations to the BJCC's Legacy Arena are completed. In the interim, the Pelicans will take over basketball operations for the Erie (Pennsylvania) BayHawks.

This announcement comes during a 12 month span in Birmingham that has included the announcement of a professional soccer team (ISL) and a professional football team (AAF) in Birmingham. Birmingham already has a professional hockey team in the Birmingham Bulls, which play in Pelham, and the AA Birmingham Baron baseball team, which plays at Regions Field.

When the $300 million renovations are completed at the BJCC, which includes the arena and a football stadium that will house the UAB football team and, likely, the Birmingham Iron - Birmingham's AAF team. (For more updates on this story and free news alerts for your neighborhood, sign up for your local Patch morning newsletter.)

The Pelicans will fully operate the basketball side of the G-League team, implementing their own systems, with their own hand-picked coaches to develop prospects in their mold. In recent years, New Orleans has sent players to a variety of G-League teams to receive playing time not available to them at the NBA level.

Birmingham did have a semi-professional basketball team in the early 90s, the Birmingham Bandits, that played at State Fair Arena and was part of the Continental Basketball Association. The team folded after one season.

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