Brooklyn Nets' G League Team Will Play Six Games in Canada This Season

The G League will debut in the Montreal area with six Long Island Nets games.

Mar 11, 2021; Orlando, Florida, USA; Mandatory Credit: Mary Holt-Imagn Images / Mary Holt-Imagn Images

The Long Island Nets, Brooklyn's NBA G League team, will play six games on the outskirts of Montreal, Canada this upcoming season. 

The news was partially revealed in a G League press release announcing the season schedule, with the Nets playing three two-game stints in Laval, Quebec in January, February and March:

• Jan. 24: vs. Raptors 905
• Jan. 26: vs. Raptors 905
• Feb. 5: vs. Greensboro Swarm
• Feb. 8: vs. Delaware Blue Coats
• March 13: vs. Memphis Hustle
• March 14: vs. Memphis Hustle

These games will mark the G League’s debut in Montreal, an area that should eventually come up in NBA expansion talks and might be being tested as a market through these games.

The Nets will consider Place Bell, a 10,000-seat arena that hosts the Laval Rocket team from the American Hockey League, their “home” while up north. Long Island has played at the Nassau Coliseum, a short drive east from Queens, since 2017. Previously, the Coliseum also hosted the New York Nets from 1972 to 1977.

Although there is no indication that the Long Island Nets will relocate from the Coliseum yet, this six-game move to Canada continues to open that possibility. The Las Vegas Sands company is intent on moving forward with its plans to launch a casino in the area. 

In August, the Nassau County Legislature approved a proposal to lease the Coliseum's property to Las Vegas Sands; however, the company has yet to receive a gaming license and continues to face public pushback. That might not be a deterrence, though. 

“If a gaming license is denied, Sands intends to go ahead with plans for a resort on the property,” a report on the Long Island Press added.

Meanwhile, Montreal has been angling for an NBA team since at least 2018. 

The NBA has not added a new team since 2004, but league commissioner Adam Silver showed himself open to exploring the idea in June.

“It's not preordained that we will expand this time, but I know there's an enormous amount of interest out there,” Silver said.

Next season, the Nets will tip off their campaign at their typical home arena on Nov. 8 against the Maine Celtics. The Celtics beat the Nets in last season’s G League Playoff Conference Finals.

After that, the Nets will play a two-game homestand against the rival Westchester Knicks before playing away from home for the rest of November. 

Like in previous seasons, the G League’s schedule will be divided into two parts: a 16-game Tip-Off Tournament beginning at the start of the season and culminating in the G League's Winter Showcase (Dec. 19-22), followed by a team record reset and a 34-game regular season starting on Dec. 27.

Long Island’s regular season will begin on Dec. 30 against the Delaware Blue Coats, Philadelphia’s G League affiliate.

A full broadcast schedule will be announced in the future, per the G League.

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