Without any professional teams in state, what’s a basketball fan looking for live games in Iowa supposed to do?
Watch one of these incredible local teams, of course!
From the G-League on down, get your live basketball fix by checking out a game at one of these Iowa teams:
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Iowa Wolves (Des Moines)
League: NBA G-League, affiliate of the Minnesota Timberwolves
Arena: Wells Fargo Arena, 233 Center St., Des Moines
Season: November-March
The Iowa Wolves started up in 2017-2018 and have only grown since then, setting the franchise single-season attendance record this past season with an average of 4,148 fans per game over 24 games and drawing nearly 100,000 fans over the season.
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Quad City United (Rock Island, IL)
League: Hype Hoops League
Arena: PepsiCo Recreation Center, 1025 30th St., Rock Island, IL
Tickets: $10 for 18+, $5 for kids
Season: April-September; home opener: Saturday, April 15, 2023
We’ll count this Illinois-based team because it’s part of the Quad-City metro area, which includes the Iowa side of the Mississippi River as well. But we’ll ALSO count them because last year, in their inaugural season with the Official Basketball Association (OBA), they went 12-3 and made their league’s Final Four—and who doesn’t love a winning team?
Hype Hoops believes they’ll keep racking up the wins in their second year, ranking QC United fourth out of its 20 teams in preseason rankings.
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Cedar Valley CourtKings (Waterloo)
League: Hype Hoops League
Arena: Cedar Valley Sportsplex, 303 Jefferson St., Waterloo
Season: April-September
The CourtKings got their start in 2016 in the Midwest Basketball League (MBL) and quickly racked up back-to-back championships. The team briefly moved over to the OBA before Hype Hoops announced the team was joining the league’s inaugural season.
But beyond that August 2022 post, the league hasn’t posted about the CourtKings or included them in its preseason rankings. The CourtKings also haven’t updated their website or posted to any social media channels since last fall. A message to an email address for the team was not immediately returned. We’ll update when we get more information.
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Cedar Rapids Roadrunners
League: American Basketball Association
Arena: Alliant Energy PowerHouse Arena, 370 First Ave. NE, Cedar Rapids
Season: November-March (playoffs in April)
This team is brand-new—it won’t officially start play until November 0f 2023, and tryouts are happening now (the next one is April 22).
Coached by Coe College assistant basketball coach Stan Hughes, it’s fair to say Cedar Rapids is already excited to see this one.
by Amie Rivers
4/14/23
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