In a transient period where not much is happening, the NBA's G League is taking massive steps past the NCAA. It started on Thursday, as the top prospect for the 2021 NBA Draft, Jalen Green, was nabbed away by the prospect of making $500,000-plus in salary (maybe even over $1 million counting endorsements) this year instead of pursuing a mere year of collegiate instruction to be able to declare as a pro.
The league's pathway to professional basketball has now been made easier, with the G League offering some beefy compensation and a slew of meaningful enticements to cross over to a quick and clear transition process.
The NBA has had this resource available since 2018, but recent changes have made this provision a rather tasty option for elite-caliber talent hoping to maximize their potential while getting paid. Shareef Abdur-Rahim, who was hired two months after the NBA put forth this plan, soon realized the $125,000 stipend the league was willing to pay blue-chip prospects wasn’t enough to recruit them.
Green, a 6-foot-5, 180-pound shooting guard out of Fresno, chose to take this route unlike most of the other prospects on the top 10 of the board. No. 13 recruit Isaiah Todd, a 6-foot-9 forward out of Richmond, VA, was soon to follow after ditching the Michigan Wolverines.
Other prospects like Makur Maker, Karim Mane, and Kai Sotto could be candidates for this G League initiative as well. Greg Brown, the No. 9 prospect and lone remnant of the top 10 who has yet to decide on his future, can think twice before accepting a college scholarship and choose money and repetition instead.
The G League is willing to do exactly what the NCAA won't. It starts with paying their athletes and building a system that focuses solely on their potential, maximizing every minute of practice and game time for that common goal.
The new team that is being assembled in Southern California will provide prospects like Green and Todd with pro coaching and multiple opportunities to face up against other top prospects and veteran players.
Those players will test their skills against G League teams, national teams, and NBA Academies, giving prospects a full package of competition instead of forced conference schedules against teams that are likely not suited to provide that mettle.
Following the overseas ventures by LaMelo Ball and RJ Hampton, the G League put a quick halt to that by ramping up compensation and sweetening the pot with some extra goods. Those include a full scholarship if a player wants to obtain his college degree.
Let's make the checklist:
- Six-figure compensation
- Top-of-the-line coaching
- System tailored to NBA rules
- Stiff competition
- No scholastic distractions
- Free education
What's there to think about?
While the NCAA rests on an obsolete policy of maintaining “true” amateurism, the talent is starting to slip through their fingers. The hardest slap was Jalen Green, but the NCAA could receive plenty more smacks across its rudderless face in the coming weeks as prospects think twice about their future and make up their minds.
The G League route looks like a no-brainer for blue-chip prospects. If the NCAA doesn't change its stance, it could soon see its product lose value by the minute after taking this huge L.
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