By Greg James | [email protected] 

The Salt Lake City Stars, the G League affiliate of the Utah Jazz, enjoyed their most successful season last year. As the 2019–20 season approaches, there are a few things you should know about this team.

This is the fourth season for the Stars in Taylorsville at Bruin Arena on the campus of Salt Lake Community College. They were previously the Idaho Stampede before they moved to their current home.

Last season, the Stars earned a playoff berth for the first time since the team moved here. They were eliminated in the first round by the Oklahoma City Blue. 

The home opener is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 15 against the defending G League champion Rio Grande Vipers, the Houston Rockets affiliate. The Stars beat them three times last season.

On the schedule this season are 24 home games; 13 of those fall on a Friday or Saturday night. Home games include a kid zone and autograph sessions. Single-game, group packages and season tickets are now available and range in pricing. 

The Stars’ roster has begun to take shape. On Sept. 21 (after press deadline) they held an open tryout. Also securing spots on the roster are Jazz draftees Jarrell Brantley and Justin Wright-Foreman. In July, they signed two-way contracts with the Jazz and will split time between the Stars and Jazz.

League rosters are made up of 12 players; two of those are NBA players (Brantley and Wright-Foreman). The remaining players are signed to league contracts and assigned to teams throughout the league by drafts and as allocation players (a player with a local tie, like a University of Utah player to the Stars). One player from each local tryout could also be assigned to the roster.

The minimum age to play in the G League is 18, which different from the NBA minimum of 19. The base annual salary is $35,000 plus housing and insurance benefits. If a player is picked up by an NBA team, they can earn a bonus plus a new contract.

Martin Schiller is returning for his third season as the team's head coach. He spent his summer coaching during the Jazz summer league and with the German National Team in the FIBA World Cup. 

Several players have G League experience on NBA rosters, including Jazz players Rudy Gobert and Royce O’Neal, and Jazz head coach Quinn Snyder. The League is also a proving ground for front office personnel and officials. The NBA has also experimented with rule changes to help grow its game in the G League.