Indiana Mad Ants

The Indiana Mad Ants are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Noblesville, Indiana, and are affiliated with the Indiana Pacers. The team plays their home games at Noblesville Event Center. From 2007 to 2023, the team played in Fort Wayne's Allen County War Memorial Coliseum and was known as the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. From 2023 to 2024, the team played in Indianapolis' Gainbridge Fieldhouse and was known as the Indiana Mad Ants.

The franchise won their first and only championship in 2013–14, and lost in the 2014–15 finals, when the G League was known as the NBA D-League. In September 2015, Pacers Sports & Entertainment (PS&E), parent company of the Indiana Pacers purchased the Mad Ants.

2007–2012: early years
In April 2007, the NBA Development League (D-League) announced it was expanding to Fort Wayne for the 2007–08 season, with former AT&T President John Zeglis as the team's president and part owner. The team was poised to be the first minor league basketball franchise to play in Fort Wayne since the Fort Wayne Fury were disbanded after the folding of the Continental Basketball Association in 2001. The franchise held a team-naming contest on their website where fans could vote on one of the four finalists: Lightning, Fire, Coyotes, and Mad Ants, the latter name being a tribute to the city's namesake "Mad" Anthony Wayne.

At the team's inception, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants were affiliated with the Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers. They finished the 2007–08 season, their first in the D-League, with a 17–33 record that put them in last place in the Central Division. Their inaugural season included players Ron Howard, Dahntay Jones, Sammy Mejía, Earl Calloway, and Walker Russell. Jeremy Richardson was selected to the 2008 All–Star Game, and was awarded the 2008 All-Star Game MVP Award.

The Mad Ants added the Milwaukee Bucks as their third affiliate for the 2008–09 season. They ended that season with a 19–31 record and posted three more under-.500 records in the next three years, failing to make the playoffs in their first five years of competition. Across these seasons, the franchise had numerous players selected to the All–Star Game: Chris Hunter (2009), Ron Howard & Rob Kurz (2010), Walker Russell (2009, 2011, 2012), and Darnell Lazare (2012). The franchise also featured players Alex Acker, Oliver Lafayette, Joe Alexander, Larry Sanders, Chris Kramer, Marvin Phillips, Corey Allmond, Vernon Macklin, Stephen Graham, and Travis Walton.

2012–2015: playoff success
The Mad Ants added the Charlotte Bobcats, now the Hornets, as their fourth NBA affiliate before in the 2012–13 season. This season saw assignments from NBA players Khris Middleton, Miles Plumlee, Orlando Johnson, and Kim English. This season also featured Tony Mitchell, Luke Harangody, and JaJuan Johnson. They made the D-League playoffs for the first time in 2013, losing to the Santa Cruz Warriors in the first round after going 27–23 in the regular season.

The next year, in the 2013–14 season, the Mad Ants won their division with a 34–16 record and made it to the D-League Finals for the first time after beating the Sioux Falls Skyforce in the semifinals and the Reno Bighorns in the quarterfinals. The Mad Ants defeated the Santa Cruz Warriors 2–0 in the Finals to claim their first D-League title, after going undefeated in the playoffs (6–0).

In 2014, as most NBA teams began exclusively partnering with or acquiring their own D-League teams, the Mad Ants made affiliate partnerships with the rest of the teams that did not have exclusive affiliates: the Atlanta Hawks, the Chicago Bulls, the Brooklyn Nets, the Denver Nuggets, the Los Angeles Clippers, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the New Orleans Pelicans, the Portland Trail Blazers, the Toronto Raptors, and the Washington Wizards. This put the Mad Ants' total number of NBA affiliates at 14 for the 2014–15 season. The Mad Ants made it to the D-League Finals again in 2015, but lost the championship series to the Santa Cruz Warriors in two games. By 2015, the Mad Ants were the only remaining independently owned team in the D-League, as the rest were owned and operated by an NBA team or a common parent organization.

2015–2023: Pacers ownership & rebranding
In September 2015, Pacers Sports & Entertainment (PS&E) purchased the Mad Ants from owner and president John Zeglis and made the team the Indiana Pacers' one-to-one D-League affiliate, dropping the rest of the Mad Ants' partnerships. Brian Levy was named general manager by PS&E.

In 2017, the Mad Ants rebranded and changed their colors to the same colors as the Pacers: navy blue, gold, cool gray and white. This was the same year that the NBA Development League was rebranded as the NBA G League following a sponsorship deal with Gatorade and the NBA.

After spending the 2020–21 season at the NBA G League single site in Orlando, Florida during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mad Ants returned to their home court at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum on November 6, 2021, playing their first home game in the venue in 608 days against the Windy City Bulls. This game also marked the start of the Mad Ants' 15th Anniversary season.

During the 2022–23 season, the team's last in Fort Wayne, Trevelin Queen and Gabe York were both selected to the 2023 Next Up Game.

2023–2024: Indiana Mad Ants
On May 8, 2023, the Indiana Pacers announced that they were moving the Mad Ants to Indianapolis for the 2023–24 season in preparation for construction of Noblesville Event Center, a new 3,400–seat venue, in Noblesville, Indiana. Upon their move to Indianapolis, the Mad Ants rebranded as the Indiana Mad Ants. The name is meant to last until their move to Noblesville, which will be accompanied by a new name, color scheme, and mascot.

During their lone season playing at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the Mad Ants finished with a 21–13 record, claiming the 3rd seed in the playoffs where they were defeated by the Delaware Blue Coats. They performed particularly well in the 2023 Showcase Cup, recording a 15–2 record and the 1st seed in the tournament, ultimately losing in the finals to the Westchester Knicks.

Oscar Tshiebwe was selected NBA G League Rookie of the Year Award, All–NBA G League First Team, as well as All–NBA G League Rookie Team, after leading the league in rebounding and set a new G League single–season rebounding record with 16.2 rebounds per game. Elfrid Payton was selected All–NBA G League Third Team after leading the league in assists at 9.1 per game. Furthermore, Tshiebwe, Isaiah Wong, and Kyle Mangas were all selected to the 2024 Next Up Game, while Tshiebwe was also selected to the 2024 NBA Rising Stars Challenge at All-Star Weekend. This season also featured Jarace Walker, Ben Sheppard, Quenton Jackson, Jordan Bell, and Kendall Brown.

NBA affiliates

 * Current
 * Indiana Pacers (2007–present)


 * Former
 * Detroit Pistons (2007–2015)
 * Milwaukee Bucks (2008–2015)
 * Charlotte Bobcats/Hornets (2012–2015)
 * Atlanta Hawks (2014–2015)
 * Brooklyn Nets (2014–2015)
 * Chicago Bulls (2014–2015)
 * Denver Nuggets (2014–2015)
 * Los Angeles Clippers (2014–2015)
 * Minnesota Timberwolves (2014–2015)
 * New Orleans Pelicans (2014–2015)
 * Portland Trail Blazers (2014–2015)
 * Toronto Raptors (2014–2015)
 * Washington Wizards (2014–2015)

Individual awards
NBA G League Most Valuable Player Award
 * Ron Howard – 2014

NBA G League Coach of the Year Award
 * Conner Henry – 2014

NBA G League Rookie of the Year Award
 * Oscar Tshiebwe – 2024
 * Tony Mitchell – 2013

NBA G League Most Improved Player Award
 * DeQuan Jones – 2018

NBA G League Team Executive of the Year Award
 * Jeff Potter – 2014

All-NBA G League First Team
 * Oscar Tshiebwe – 2024
 * Justin Anderson – 2022
 * Ron Howard – 2014
 * Tony Mitchell – 2013

All-NBA G League Second Team
 * Oshae Brissett – 2021
 * Alex Poythress – 2017
 * Rob Kurz – 2010
 * Chris Hunter – 2009

All-NBA G League Third Team
 * Elfrid Payton – 2024
 * Justin Anderson – 2023
 * Walter Lemon Jr. – 2018
 * Tony Mitchell – 2014

Jason Collier Sportsmanship Award
 * Ron Howard – 2013, 2014

Ron Howard – Mr. Mad Ant Award
 * Stephan Hicks – 2024

NBA D League All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award
 * Andre Emmett – 2015
 * Jeremy Richardson – 2008

NBA G League All-Star & Next Up Game
 * Oscar Tshiebwe – 2024
 * Isaiah Wong – 2024
 * Kyle Mangas – 2024
 * Trevelin Queen – 2023
 * Gabe York – 2023
 * Edmond Sumner – 2019
 * Walter Lemon Jr. – 2018
 * Alex Poythress – 2017
 * Rakeem Christmas – 2016
 * Andre Emmett – 2015
 * Ron Howard – 2010, 2013, 2014
 * Tony Mitchell – 2013
 * Darnell Lazare – 2012
 * Walker Russell – 2009, 2011, 2012
 * Rob Kurz – 2010
 * Chris Hunter – 2009
 * Jeremy Richardson – 2008

NBA G League All-Star & Next Up Game Head Coach
 * Tom Hankins – 2024
 * Bryce Taylor – 2024
 * Justin Wetzel – 2024
 * Rob Dosier – 2024

NBA D League Slam Dunk Contest
 * DeQuan Jones – 2018
 * Tony Mitchell – 2013, 2014

NBA D League Shooting Stars Competition
 * Cameron Jones – 2012

In popular culture

 * In the television series One Tree Hill, James Lafferty's character Nathan receives an offer to coach the Mad Ants in the episode "You've Dug Your Own Grave, Now Lie In It". The episode originally aired September 29, 2008 on The CW Network.
 * The Mad Ants were featured in the 'MyCareer' mode in NBA 2K19, a basketball game released on September 11, 2018, developed by Visual Concepts, and published by 2K Sports.
 * The Mad Ants were featured in the "Destination NBA: A G League Odyssey" feature length documentary which originally premiered August 8, 2023 on Prime Video.