NBA lockout won't delay Indiana minor league play

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - The Pacers' season will start late, along with the rest of the NBA, thanks to stalled labor negotiations, but it will be "business as usual" for the team's feeder in the development league, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants.

NBA Commissioner David Stern announced that the league’s first 100 games would be wiped from the 2011-12 schedule , after more than seven hours of negotiations Monday between owners and players.

But according to Mad Ants team President Jeff Potter, the lockout will not affect operations on the minor league level. The Mad Ants are the NBA Development League feeder team for the Indiana Pacers, the Detroit Pistons and the Milwaukee Bucks.

“Everything’s a ‘go’ with us,” Potter said. “We’ll be business as usual.”

Potter said he could not comment on whether the NBA’s lockout would boost interest in the ongoing development league or how it might impact players’ emotions when considering their future as professional basketball players.

“Regardless of what’s going on outside the D-League, I think they want to be here,” Potter said. “Everyone wants to be in the NBA, … but if you feel like you are helping your resume - which I think the D-League does for Europe, for everywhere - you come here, and you build, and that’s the great opportunity that surrounds the NBA D-League.”

The Mad Ants' season opens Nov. 25 with a home game against Sioux Falls.