The Colorado 14ers are moving to Frisco in 2o1o. From the press release:

Texas D-League Management, LLC, has purchased the Colorado 14ers and will relocate the team to Frisco, Texas, it was announced today by NBA Development League President Dan Reed. The team will begin play in Frisco at the Dr. Pepper Arena for the 2010-11 season, but will not play during 2009-10 in order to transition.

Donnie Nelson, Dallas Mavericks President of Basketball Operations and General Manager, will be the principal owner and operator of the team. Nelson brings 23 years of NBA experience with him to the team in Frisco, including 11 years in Dallas’ front office, along with coaching stints with the Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, Milwaukee Bucks, and Phoenix Suns. Nelson’s ownership group includes Evan Wyly, a Dallas native and the Chairman of Green Mountain Energy, the nation’s leading provider of cleaner electricity and carbon offset solutions. Colorado 14ers owner Tim Wiens will retain a minority ownership stake in the team. Nelson, Wyly and Frisco Mayor Maher Maso joined Reed at today’s announcement, which was held at the Mavericks’ practice facility located inside American Airlines Center.

The D-League and NBA have come to an agreement (in principal?) on a new hybrid affiliation model. This hybrid affiliation is not the model, but one of three options NBA teams can choose to better utilize the D-League. The hybrid model allows all the benefits the Spurs enjoy with the Toros, but reduces the financial commitment. The press release, however, does not appear to link Dallas and Frisco in such an agreement, at least not initially.

When the team begins play in 2010, it will be directly affiliated with up to three NBA teams, which will be able to assign first and second year players to the club up to three times during a season.

The tie through Mavericks GM and Frisco owner Donnie Nelson is obvious, however. If memory serves, Mark Cuban has previously expressed uncertainty about the best way to develop a young player, not knowing if the D-League was any more beneficial than allowing a player to remain with his NBA team and develop through practice. To my knowledge, he’s always treated the potential of the D-League positively, but reserved judgement on its place as the eventual front runner in player development. That is, he treated it as an open question. One suspects that with Nelson at the helm the Mavericks will use their D-League affiliate more extensively than in the past. The influence, if any, of the Mavericks on Frisco will be an interesting story to follow.