From Staff Reports 

Asheville recently was named one of seven cities that the National Basketball Association’s Charlotte Hornets are evaluating for launching a development team in the so-called D-League.

The Hornets, owned by basketball star Michael Jordan, requested a proposal from Asheville’s economic development office, the U.S. Cellular Center and the Asheville Buncombe Regional Sports Commission in early May.

The request for proposal seeks to gauge interest in placing a minor-league pro basketball team in a North Carolina or South Carolina city for the 2016-17 season.

Other North Carolina cities to which the Hornets also sent requests include Fayetteville, Greensboro and Raleigh. The South Carolina cities include Charleston, Columbia and Greenville.

Four of the cities on the Hornets’ list — Asheville, Fayetteville, Greenville and Charleston — had teams in the original NBA Development League. All four folded within four years.

The Hornets do not have a D-League team and hope to schedule 24 home games for its new team from November to April, as part of a 50-game regular season.

“This would allow us to dictate how the team is run, with the same offensive and defensive sets... and philosophies,” Charlotte General Manager Rich Cho noted.

The D-League club would be owned and operated by Hornets Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Charlotte Hornets and operates Charlotte’s Time Warner Cable Arena.

The NBDL was formed in 2001 and Asheville was among eight cities in the Southeast to field expansion teams.

The Asheville Altitude played at the Civic Center, renamed the U.S. Cellular Center, for four seasons.

While the team was successful on the floor, winning the league title in each of its last two seasons in Asheville, the franchise struggled financially.

The team lost at least $100,000 in each of the four seasons and saw declining attendance each year before leaving in 2005.

During its last season in Asheville (2004-05), the Altitude drew fewer than 300 fans for nine of 23 home games.

Official attendance for the final season was an average of 499 per game.

“This is a very exciting time for us,” said Hornets Sports & Entertainment President and Chief Operating Officer Fred Whitfield. “The decision to take steps toward launching our own D-League club is yet another example of our owner’s long-term commitment to our franchise and continues to show his willingness to invest in the resources needed to improve our basketball team. A D-League team would also allow us to continue to expand the Hornets brand regionally by having a presence in an additional market.”

Under the current D-League structure, 17 of the 18 teams have single-affiliate relationships with an NBA team. Eight are fully owned and operated by their NBA parent team. An additional eight are operated under a “hybrid” affiliation, in which the NBA team funds and manages the basketball operations while local ownership maintains control of the business aspects.

The Dallas Mavericks and Texas Legends have a one-to-one relationship by way of Mavericks General Manager Donnie Nelson’s ownership of the Legends. The Hornets are one of 13 NBA teams affiliated with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the lone independent D-League team.