Capitanes de Ciudad de México
2022–23 NBA G League season
Capitanes de Ciudad de México logo
ConferenceWestern
LeagueLiga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional
2017–2020
NBA G League
2021–present
Founded2017
HistoryCapitanes de Ciudad de México
2017–present
ArenaMexico City Arena
Capacity22,300
LocationMexico City, Mexico
Team colorsBlue, yellow, pink[1]
     
Main sponsorAT&T
PresidentRodrigo Serratos
General managerNick Lagios
Head coachRamón Díaz Sánchez
Ownership
  • Moisés Cosío
  • Rodrigo Trujillo
  • Patricio Garza
[2]
Websitecapitanes.gleague.nba.com

The Capitanes de Ciudad de México (English: Mexico City Captains) are a Mexican professional basketball team based in Mexico City. The Capitanes competed as a member club in the Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional (LNBP) for the first three seasons and the franchise is currently a member of the NBA G League. The team plays their home games in the Mexico City Arena.

The Capitanes were established before the 2017–18 season, after the Mexican capital had been without a basketball team for a decade.[3]

In December 2019, the National Basketball Association's commissioner Adam Silver announced that the Capitanes would be joining the league's developmental league, the NBA G League, for at least five seasons beginning in the 2020–21 season.[4] However, following the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, no mention was made of the Capitanes participating in the league's 2021 bubble season,[5] and the team announced it would join in 2021–22.

History

Foundation

The Mexican capital had lacked a competitive basketball team for a decade. In an attempt of reanimating the passion for basketball in Mexico City, a group of investors led by Moisés Cosío, announced the foundation of this new franchise.[3] The group of investors accepted that the situation was challenging but Jordi Funtanet, the director of marketing and communications for the new team said that it was also a very big opportunity.[6] It was the first Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional (LNBP) team not economically linked to the government and with totally private investment.

The players who were to be brought into this new franchise were to be a solid base from the national team, and more experienced players from abroad.[6]

The first season

The management stated that the team's goal for the season was to qualify for the playoffs with an aim of the semifinal. The head coach for the season was the Spaniard Ramón Díaz, who had previously been involved with the National Team, as an assistant coach. The state of the Gimnasium was improved, including dressing rooms, and the playing surface.[7]

Their first preseason game ended in defeat against an amateur side. Their first official game was played on October 13, and ended in a 90–87 win for the Capitanes, against the Aguacateros de Michoacán.[8] Their first season went well; they won 21 out of their first 30 matches, with an offense commanded by Pedro Meza, Fernando Bénitez, and Emmanuel Ándujar, who all received call-ups to the All Star game in early December, along with head coach Ramón Díaz.[9]

NBA G League

In December 2019, commissioner Adam Silver of the National Basketball Association (NBA) announced Capitanes were joining the NBA G League.[10] The initial plan was starting from the 2020–21 season, the team would play in the G League for five seasons and be the first team outside the United States and Canada. However, due the restrictions in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, the season was postponed and eventually played at a single site in Orlando, Florida, for an abbreviated 2021 season without the Capitanes. The team announced it still planned to join the G League in 2021–22.[11] On May 7, 2021, Nick Lagios was named the team's general manager.[12] Due to the ongoing travel restrictions during the pandemic, the Capitanes were only scheduled to play 12 games in the 2021 G League Showcase Cup with all games in the United States. The team was based in Fort Worth, Texas, for the season so players did not have to cross the border during the restrictions.[13]

On November 5, 2021, the Capitanes defeated the Memphis Hustle 95–90 in their first official G League game. During their inaugural G League season, three of the Capitanes players were called up to NBA teams: Gary Clark to the New Orleans Pelicans, Alfonzo McKinnie to the Chicago Bulls, and Matt Mooney to the New York Knicks. However, the Capitanes finished their shortened season with a 4–8 record, failing to qualify for the Showcase Cup tournament.

Logo and uniforms

The landmark, upon which the logo was based.

The Capitanes colors consist of blue, white, and yellow. The home uniforms consist of a blue jersey with an embroidered yellow outline and yellow lines in the sides along with blue shorts with yellow lines in the bottoms. The away uniforms consist of a white jersey with an embroidered blue outline and blue lines in the sides along with white shorts with blue lines in the bottoms. The alternate color is yellow, with blue embroidered in the neck, sides and bottoms.

The team's logo consists of a yellow and blue rendering of the Monumento a la Revolución, a landmark of Mexico City, with the word Capitanes underneath it, and Ciudad de México in smaller type.

Home arena

The Capitanes home arena

The Gimnasio Olímpico Juan de la Barrera in Mexico City was the home arena for the team between 2017 and 2020. The venue hosted volleyball at the 1968 Summer Olympics.


The Mexico City Arena hosted the team's home games for the NBA G League's 2022–23 season and onwards. The arena can hold 22,300 spectators, but seated a maximum of 8,000 for Capitanes games.[14]

Mexican fans call Mexico City Arena "Territorio Capitan" (Capitan Territory).

Season by season

The following is an overview of all seasons of Capitanes, including performance in national playoffs and international competitions:

Champions Runners-up Playoff berth
Season Tier League Finish Wins Losses Win% Playoffs International competitions Head coach
Capitanes
2017–18 1 LNBP 2nd 26 14 .650 Won quarterfinals (Correcaminos, 3–2)
Won semifinals (Fuerza Regia, 4–1)
Lost finals (Soles)		 Ramón Díaz Sánchez
2018–19 1 LNBP 1st 27 13 .675 Won quarterfinals (Abejas, 4–0)
Won semifinals (Soles, 4–2)
Lost finals (Fuerza Regia, 2–4)		 FIBA Americas League
Fourth Place
2019–20 1 LNBP 2nd 25 11 .694 Lost quarterfinals (Aguacateros, 1–4) BCL Americas
Group Stage
2020–21 – NBA G League Season cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021–22 – NBA G League 7th 4 8 .333 Did not qualify
2022–23 – NBA G League 8th 18 14 .563 Did not qualify

Current roster

Capitanes de Ciudad de México roster
Players Coaches
Pos.No.NameHeightWeightDOBFrom
G 1 Bernard, Diego 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 2000-01-05 Northwest Missouri State
G 4 Borges, Alexey 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1995-09-08 Brazil
F/C 35 Faried, Kenneth 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 228 lb (103 kg) 1989-18-11 Morehead State
G 33 Lewis, Malique (P) 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 2006-10-10 Trinidad and Tobago
G 19 Martinez, Luke 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1990-08-24 Wyoming
F/C 8 Miranda, Ruan 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 230 lb (104 kg) 2001-07-07 Brazil
G 7 Molinar, Iverson 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1999-12-03 Mississippi State
F 45 Pereira, Maozinha 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 177 lb (80 kg) 2000-08-28 Brazil
G 15 Pierre-Louis, Nate 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1998-12-23 Temple
G 5 Thompson, Ethan 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1999-05-04 Oregon State
F 23 Wheeler, Phillip 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 2002-04-23 Ranney School (NJ)
G 3 Wright-Foreman, Justin 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1997-10-27 Hofstra
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (DP) Unsigned draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (S) Suspended
  • (P) Prospects
  • (NBA) On assignment from NBA affiliate
  • (TW) Two-way affiliate player
  • Injured Injured

Roster
Last transaction: December 29, 2023

In international competitions

  Champions    Runners-up    Third place    Fourth place  

Year Competition Round W L W%
2019FIBA Americas LeagueFourth Place23.400
2019–20BCL AmericasGroup Stage13.250
Total 0 Titles 3 6 .333

References

  1. ↑ "Capitanes de Ciudad de México Reproduction Guideline Sheet". NBA Properties, Inc. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
  2. ↑ "Capitanes". lnbp.mx. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  3. 1 2 "Los Capitanes, el nuevo equipo de basquetbol de la Ciudad de México". publimetro.com.mx. Publimetro México. 10 October 2016.
  4. ↑ "NBA G League Expands to Mexico City in Landmark Partnership with Capitanes". NBA G League. December 12, 2019.
  5. ↑ "NBA G League To Begin Play at Disney In February". NBA G League. January 8, 2021.
  6. 1 2 Juan Carlos Díaz. "Presentan a Los Capitanes de la CDMX". deportes.televisa.com. Archived from the original on 2017-12-06. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  7. ↑ "Capitanes, el nuevo equipo de la Ciudad de México [ENTREVISTA] | Diario de México| Diario de México |". diariodemexico.com. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  8. ↑ "Capitanes - Con un apretado 90-87 los Capitanes hacen..." Facebook. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  9. ↑ "Nacionales se llevan el Juego de Estrellas de la LNBP - Grupo Milenio". laaficion.milenio.com. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  10. ↑ "NBA G League Expands to Mexico City in Landmark Partnership with Capitanes". NBA.com. December 12, 2019. Retrieved December 16, 2019.
  11. ↑ "NBA G-LEAGUE ANUNCIA EL INICIO DE SU TEMPORADA 2021 CAPITANES DEBUTARÁ EN LA SIGUIENTE TEMPORADA(2021-2022)". Capitanes.mx. January 8, 2021.
  12. ↑ "Capitanes ya tiene General Manager para su primera temporada en la G League: Nick Lagios". mx.nba.com. May 7, 2021.
  13. ↑ "NBA G League Tips off 2021-22 Season on November 5 with Innovative New Format". OurSports Central. September 14, 2021.
  14. ↑ "After having to play their first season in the G League in the US, the Capitanes return to Mexico City". USA Today. August 21, 2022.
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