BOISE, Idaho -- Spacing is a concern now, possibly more so than it is on the court.
There is no charter flight for the Los Angeles D-Fenders, the Lakers' Development League team. Abdoulaye N'Diaye and Jelani McCoy, both nearly seven feet tall, stake out a couple added inches of space by claiming front-row seats on the flight headed here for a two-game trip.
Their teammates scatter throughout the plane, most nodding to sleep as the sun seeps through the windows with no blinders.
This is a dream on a budget -- or life in the NBA D-League.
A budget that puts two players per hotel room, and offers a $30 per diem and salaries that top out at $26,000.
High school and college standouts are now tweeners and too-shorts, and the dream is maybe what gets players through trips -- be it here, Fort Wayne or Sioux Falls.
Some D-Fenders have played overseas, where the pay is more lucrative, but returned -- either subscribing to the out-of-sight, out-of-mind theory or weary of living far from home.
But the payoff of making it to the NBA with a minimum annual salary of $427,163 -- somewhat mystically referred to as "the league" -- outweighs any burden. Even a 10-day NBA contract almost matches the highest D-League salary.
So the dream trudges on.
The players shuffle off the plane. A fresh sheet of snow fell this Thursday morning, pushing a sunny Los Angeles day into the past.
The D-Fenders consist of McCoy (UCLA), N'Diaye (USC), Cecil Brown (Canoga Park High and UC Santa Barbara), Brian Chase (Virginia Tech), Errick Craven (USC), Stephane Lasme (Massachusetts), Sean Banks (Memphis), Brian Morrison (North Carolina and UCLA) and Wendell White (Redondo Union High and UNLV).
Some have attended an NBA training camp -- falling just short. Then there is McCoy, UCLA's all-time leader in blocked shots, who has 72 games of NBA experience spread among eight seasons.
The 14-team league, spearheaded by NBA Commissioner David Stern, is largely still searching for a way to manifest itself into a true feeder system for the NBA.
The D-Fenders are better off than most. They are owned by the Lakers and travel with a trainer and equipment manager.
There are some horror stories -- teams waiting for their jerseys to be washed -- all dependent on whether a reliable high school kid can be found.
