Fans welcome the future of the NBA

HIDALGO — About 20 middle school girls screamed in unison and threw up their arms as they watched the future of the National Basketball Association.

The girls looked on as the Rio Grande Valley Vipers took the court Friday for their regular-season debut at Dodge Arena. The team is one of 14 that play in the NBA Development League, the proving ground for the NBA. Each D-League team feeds into at least one NBA affiliate.

The Vipers will launch players to the Houston Rockets, Cleveland Cavaliers and New Orleans Hornets. But for now, they will work for fan support in their new home.

For the 20 girls, ranging in age from 12 to 14, the team won their allegiance instantly.

The girls play for the seventh- and eighth-grade basketball team at Jose Borrego Middle School in Monte Alto. Normally, they suit up in their Blue Devils school jerseys and take the court. On Friday, though, their coaches treated them to the Vipers’ opening game.

Blue Devils coach Aminta Cavazos chaperoned the screaming fans as they pounded inflatable noisemakers together and shouted encouragement to their new home team.

“We wanted to take the girls out to something special, something different,” Cavazos said as the girls watched the game. A Vipers player scored a basket as she spoke, and the crowd erupted.

“It’s the Vipers’ opening night,” Cavazos said. “They only have one chance to see this.”

The girls cheered through the whole first quarter, even as the visiting Austin Toros jumped out to a 17-9 lead. For all these young fans knew, those guys wearing the RGV Vipers jerseys would soon be visible to them only on television, wearing Hornets or maybe Rockets jerseys.

After last season, three players from the D-League jumped to NBA teams in Charlotte, New Jersey and California. The next to upgrade could be a Viper.

Abby Pierce, the vice president of operations for the Vipers, said she expected plenty of support from basketball fans in the Valley. Staffers had sold all but 1,000 of the 7,800 available tickets for opening night as of a few hours before game time.

Dodge Arena continued to fill even as the game got under way. Even toward the end of the first quarter a line of fans stood at the ticket counter in the chilly, rainy November night.

That sort of die-hard attitude powers players — whether they play in the D-League or for the seventh-grade hoops squad at a middle school in Monte Alto.

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Zack Quaintance covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4447.