The schedule for the four-day, 16-game, NBA Development League Showcase, which features all 16 teams competing between Jan. 9-12, is released. The eighth annual event, hosted this season by the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority, will take place at the Reno Events Center in Reno, Nev., home of the NBA D-League’s Reno Bighorns. NBA TV will air 12 Showcase games — eight of them live (see full schedule attached).

Action tips off Monday, Jan. 9, when forward Antoine Walker and the Idaho Stampede takes on Erie BayHawks and recently acquired guard Donald Sloan at 10 a.m. PT, and features three more contests that day, with games scheduled to tip off at 12:45 p.m., 3:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. The schedules for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday also include four games each, and follow the same tip off times as Monday’s slate.

The NBA D-League Showcase welcomes general managers, player personnel staff, and scouts from each of the 30 NBA teams who will be in attendance to evaluate the league’s talent. Conceived prior to the 2004-05 season, the NBA D-League Showcase provides an opportunity for NBA D-League players and coaches to perform in front of NBA general managers, player personnel executives and scouts over four consecutive days at one location. The 2012 event will feature each NBA D-League team competing in two games each over four days.

* One of these two games will be shown on NBA TV on Jan. 10 (11.a.m. ET)
+ One of these two games will be shown on NBA TV on Jan. 11 (11.a.m. ET)
# One of these two games will be shown on NBA TV on Jan. 12 (11 a.m. ET)
^ One of these two games will be shown on NBA TV on Jan. 13 (1 p.m. ET)

Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster sales locations, by phone  at 800-745-3000, or the website www.ticketmaster.com/event/17004758DD0B5EAF, Silver Legacy Box Office and the Reno Events Center Box Office.

For more information please visit: http://www.nba.com/dleague

Reno Tahoe’s past two weekends at SnowBomb Ski Fest in Santa Clara and San Fransisco were unforgettably entertaining. Between giving contest winners trips to Reno among many other cool giveaways, to dressing attendees in our favorite swag (including the orange stickers), we can excitedly say that ski season 2011/12 cannot arrive soon enough.

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The Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority (RSCVA) will host the eighth annual NBA Development League Showcase at the Reno Events Center, NBA D-League President Dan Reed announced yesterday at the South Reno Athletic Club. Reed was joined at the press conference by Reno Bighorns owner Herb Santos, Jr. and Interim President & CEO of the RSCVA, Joe Kelley. The 2012 Showcase, which will feature all 16 NBA D-League teams, will run from Jan. 9-12.

“We are excited to partner with the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority to bring the 2012 NBA D-League Showcase to the city of Reno,” said Reed. “Reno will become the center of the basketball world for four days in January, as all 30 NBA teams are expected to attend what has become the premier in-season destination to scout basketball’s top prospects.”

Conceived prior to the 2004-05 season, the NBA D-League Showcase provides an opportunity for NBA D-League players and coaches to perform in front of NBA general managers, player personnel executives and scouts over four consecutive days at one location. The 2012 event will feature each NBA D-League team competing in two games each over four days.

“Being awarded the 2012 NBA D-League Showcase is an awesome honor,” said Santos, Jr., who is part of a local ownership group, Bighorns Basketball, LLC, which includes, Stephen Adams and Jeffrey Adams, that purchased the team over the summer, giving the Bighorns local ownership for the first time in their three-year history. “We will have all 16 D-League teams in Reno at one time, along with numerous representatives from the NBA front office and scouts and executives from every NBA team.”

“Hosting the NBA Development League Showcase presents a number of opportunities for Reno Tahoe. Our locals, and visitors, will have the privilege of watching great athletes, many of whom they will soon see on NBA teams,” said Joe Kelley, Interim President & CEO of the Reno-Sparks Convention & Visitors Authority. “It also gives the community a forum to prove that this destination can produce successful professional sporting events. We couldn’t be more excited about the Showcase coming to area.” The 2012 NBA D-League Showcase is estimated to generate direct, local economic impact in excess of $1 million.

As the NBA D-League’s local franchise, the Bighorns are coming off a highly successful 2010-11 campaign in which they won a franchise-best 34 games and captured their first Western Conference championship. Their 2011-12 season tips off on the road on Friday, Nov. 25, when the team visits the Bakersfield Jam. The team will return to Reno to host its first home game of the season against Bakersfield at the Reno Events Center on Friday, Dec. 2.

Twenty-three percent of players on 2010-11 NBA end-of-season rosters had NBA D-League experience, many of whom participated in an NBA D-League Showcase since its inception in 2005.  During its seven-year history, more than 30 NBA D-League players have earned GATORADE Call-Ups from the NBA D-League to the NBA during or after the NBA D-League Showcase; while an even larger number benefited from the exposure afforded them at the NBA D-League Showcase.

Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster (sales locations, by phone at 800-745-3000 or the website  www.ticketmaster.com/event/17004758DD0B5EAF, Silver Legacy Box Office and the Reno Events Center Box Office beginning at 10:00am on Wednesday, November 2nd.