“I think the NBA is doing it as a big middle finger to the NCAA,” said a prominent NBA agent. “This is how it’s going to be, we’re going to take control of the development of top players.”
Combine this trend with the general expectation that the NBA draft will begin taking high school players in 2022, and it’s all bad news for college basketball. A sport that’s seen elite star power like Carmelo Anthony, Derrick Rose and Zion Williamson the past two decades will instead be led by Luka Garzas, Malachi Flynns and Payton Pritchards.
“The product in college basketball has been getting worse,” a G League head coach told Yahoo Sports on Thursday. “And it’s going to be worse than it is now. College basketball is already watered down.”
Combine the lucrative routes available for top players with a pervasive apathy many top high school players are showing toward college and it’s bad news for the sport’s landscape. In many ways, Silver was smart to do this to keep top players like LaMelo Ball and RJ Hampton from going overseas. The NBA realized that no good business would ship its biggest stars to another continent. Meanwhile, the NCAA hasn’t figured out a way to court and accommodate basketball’s top stars, but we can look forward to a committee to assemble so they can announce nothing of particular note sometime in 2029. That’s the NCAA way: Keep the status quo and hope the issues go away.
This is invite only by the G league so the #50 player in class won’t be doing this. Some kids will want to have that college experience for a year instead of taking this so I think it will be just the elite of the elite.
To me it’s a no brainer. If I am a top high school basketball player and the G League say they are giving me $500K to only develop my skills for a year, I’m skipping college. They are also guaranteeing to pay for a 4 year university education for me at some time in the future if I choose.
If my basketball career does not work out for me, I can still get a free education.
Plus, we already don’t get those elite players anyways, so it really doesn’t affect UH. Also, with a coach like Sampson who believes in developing players like he has with the three star players we have had over the years, UH basketball will be fine.
This should help a little to put the “student” back in “student-athlete”…and hopefully it will create a better tie between the player and the university.
What a terrible article title. The NCAA is probably happy with these moves. They miss out on a guy like Zion playing one season every 10 years or so, but average fans don’t know top high school players anyways. Just fewer payments and bidding for elite guys the NCAA has to cover up. RJ Hampton and James Wiseman weren’t increasing ratings for the NCAA, but one caused a bunch of issues and the other might have.
I think the question is, will ESPN and other media outlets transfer money to the D League from NCAA since the D League will presumably have better talent than the NCAA? I suppose it depends on if they market it as a league with elite college level talent.
I don’t see that happening because that G league select team will play a 20 game schedule. Also college basketball is better draw than a G league select team.
The G-League has already had better talent than NCAA though. The brands of the G-League are not there yet and no where close to the top programs in college. I see where you are kind of going that they could sell a future NBA star is playing, but for most fans the name appeal wont be there. Get a Zion type and for sure, but in a couple years those type of guys will be going straight to the NBA anyway.
Kind of like how Charles Bassey didn’t make anybody watch Western Kentucky. Top 5-10 recruit, but not much of an appeal for the average fan.
There are a lot of players that really shouldn’t be in college and pretend to be students and if they can go directly to the G league or straight to the NBA, I’m fine with that. I think a kid should be able to go pro at any time they wish.
I guess you are right since the G League won’t be able to pay 30 top athletes $500K a piece and as long as colleges continue the under table payment for these top players, college basketball will be just fine.