G League to offer contracts to top high schoolers

[Billy Dat]

https://gleague.nba.com/news/nba-g-l...all-prospects/

"The NBA G League today announced a Select Contract as part of a comprehensive professional path that will be available, beginning with the 2019-20 season, to elite prospects who are eligible to play in the NBA G League but not yet eligible for the NBA. The contracts, which will include robust programmatic opportunities for development, are for elite players who are at least 18 years old and will pay $125,000 for the five-month season.

Select Contracts are an answer to the basketball community’s call for additional development options for elite players before they are eligible for the NBA,” said NBA G League President Malcolm Turner. “The supporting infrastructure surrounding these newly-created Select Contracts is designed to provide a rich offering of basketball and life skills developmental tools for top young players to grow along their professional paths from high school to the pros.”

[CrazyNotCrazie]

The G League has introduced a select contract for $125k a year for high school grads who are not yet eligible for the NBA to play in the G League. The devil is in the details on this but I'm curious how many players take them up on this.

http://www.nba.com/article/2018/10/1...ficial-release

[JasonEvans]

This is a truly major development. $125k is real money -- not life changing, but good money.

The competition in the GLeague is better than college ball and will prepare you for the NBA better as you can spend more time on your game and not have to worry about classes (insert UNC joke here).

I will not be at all surprised if a half dozen or more of the top prospects in the class of 2019 go this route. This is potentially a sea change in recruiting.

[BLPOG]

The G League has introduced a select contract for $125k a year for high school grads who are not yet eligible for the NBA to play in the G League. The devil is in the details on this but I'm curious how many players take them up on this.

http://www.nba.com/article/2018/10/1...ficial-release

My hope is that the answer to your question is "many."

[ChillinDuke]

The G League has introduced a select contract for $125k a year for high school grads who are not yet eligible for the NBA to play in the G League. The devil is in the details on this but I'm curious how many players take them up on this.

http://www.nba.com/article/2018/10/1...ficial-release

Very interesting!

My sense is a lot of players would take them up on this. $125K is a lot more than a G-League salary, right?

But it can't be that simple. A team must make that offer, no? How many top players get that sort of offer is probably in the 5-10 range, is my guess.

- Chillin

[JasonEvans]

If you are a top 10 prospect -- a guy certain to be one and done -- aside from the potential notoriety of playing in the NCAA and getting a fan base from your college fans, I can't think of any reason for those kids to go to college versus going this route.

[Pghdukie]

I wonder what the Big Baller's have to say about this ! Maybe this format will just make them go away.

[flyingdutchdevil]

Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge fan of this proposal. Yes, some of the top college talent will no longer be college talent. But at least Duke will have some sophomores!

[DavidBenAkiva]

This is a truly major development. $125k is real money -- not life changing, but good money.

The competition in the GLeague is better than college ball and will prepare you for the NBA better as you can spend more time on your game and not have to worry about classes (insert UNC joke here).

I will not be at all surprised if a half dozen or more of the top prospects in the class of 2019 go this route. This is potentially a sea change in recruiting.

I'll be surprised if more than a couple go this route. Kids could always go straight to the NBA out of high school. But it took more than a decade after Kevin Garnett (and several after Moses Malone) to start bypassing college in droves. No one wants to be the first one to go this route and fall flat. If a couple of kids from 2019 go this route, I expect we'll see more from the succeeding classes. But someone has to be first. It may happen or it may not.

[Natty_B]

Woj doesn't think it will move the needle much: https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1052959247305080832

But Woj also makes about 2 million a year and might have forgotten how much $125,000 a year is to most people.

I'm thinking you will see a decent number of dudes go this route.

[DavidBenAkiva]

I wonder what the Big Baller's have to say about this ! Maybe this format will just make them go away.

Who?

[brlftz]

What's the incentive for a G-League team to offer this? Is it just ordinary marketing of their own teams, as in, "BOY would a lot of people pay to come see Zion play!"? I assume that's all it is, and that this doesn't provide an NBA team a way to secure a player and keep them out of the draft. If so, it will really be interesting to see how many players get an offer based on a perceived ability to draw crowds.

I'm also with everyone else, this really changes everything for Duke. Adios, hypothetical 2019 recruiting class.

[Troublemaker]

If you are a top 10 prospect -- a guy certain to be one and done -- aside from the potential notoriety of playing in the NCAA and getting a fan base from your college fans, I can't think of any reason for those kids to go to college versus going this route.

The ESPN article (Givony) does a good job listing three major drawbacks (or at least question marks as of now), from the high school prospect's perspective. I'll link and excerpt below:

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/2...one-route-ncaa

[golfinesquire]

If you are a top 10 prospect -- a guy certain to be one and done -- aside from the potential notoriety of playing in the NCAA and getting a fan base from your college fans, I can't think of any reason for those kids to go to college versus going this route.

Marketing is one. The top college players get a lot of exposure from being recruited to being on TV for all those televised games during their one year in college. That positions some of them to sign those multimillion dollar endorsement deals seconds after they are drafted. I doubt the G-League will get anywhere near that kind of attention, meaning all that free publicity goes away. Obviously finances are personal to each family but I can imagine those who can afford to look at the big picture and wait a bit will still think that a year in college is useful and ultimately more lucrative.

[JasonEvans]

I'll be surprised if more than a couple go this route. Kids could always go straight to the NBA out of high school. But it took more than a decade after Kevin Garnett (and several after Moses Malone) to start bypassing college in droves. No one wants to be the first one to go this route and fall flat. If a couple of kids from 2019 go this route, I expect we'll see more from the succeeding classes. But someone has to be first. It may happen or it may not.

I'm not allowed to make pie bets any more according to my wife, but I would be willing to make some kind of wager that at least 5 players go this route in 2019.

Here is a key line from the ESPN story:

Without the restrictions of the NCAA's amateurism rules, players will also be free to hire agents, profit off their likeness and pursue marketing deals from sneaker companies and the like, which could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in endorsement opportunities to top prospects.

• $125k
• Endorsements
• Agents and advisers to help guide you
• As much practice time as you want
• NBA-approved trainers and coaching staff
• No classes

Why would James Wiseman, Cole Anthony, Vernon Carey, Jaden McDaniels, and Isaiah Stewart choose to go to college where they play for free and don't get any of the other benefits? The only thing they get is a fan base of college hoops followers who have 6 months of attachment to them and some extra name recognition from playing college games on TV.

-Jason "this is a no brainer for a top 5 prospect" Evans

[CameronBornAndBred]

So are coaches already on the phone with recruits asking them where their head is? I would be. No sense in wasting time on a guy that says he is heading to the pros instead of school.

[Troublemaker]

I'm also with everyone else, this really changes everything for Duke. Adios, hypothetical 2019 recruiting class.

Ha, the main reason I support this plan is because Duke is seemingly trailing for most of the major recruits we're going after. I mean, if Cole Anthony really is going to end up a Tar Heel, I certainly hope he chooses the G League instead.

[JasonEvans]

Marketing is one. The top college players get a lot of exposure from being recruited to being on TV for all those televised games during their one year in college. That positions some of them to sign those multimillion dollar endorsement deals seconds after they are drafted. I doubt the G-League will get anywhere near that kind of attention, meaning all that free publicity goes away. Obviously finances are personal to each family but I can imagine those who can afford to look at the big picture and wait a bit will still think that a year in college is useful and ultimately more lucrative.

If you are a top draft pick, you will get the endorsement dollars even if folks don't know you from playing college ball. Just ask Luca Doncic, Kristaps Porzingas, and many others.

[devildeac]

What's the incentive for a G-League team to offer this? Is it just ordinary marketing of their own teams, as in, "BOY would a lot of people pay to come see Zion play!"? I assume that's all it is, and that this doesn't provide an NBA team a way to secure a player and keep them out of the draft. If so, it will really be interesting to see how many players get an offer based on a perceived ability to draw crowds.

I'm also with everyone else, this really changes everything for Duke. Adios, hypothetical 2019 recruiting class.

But, how much, if any, does it change for Arizona, Villanova and UK who have several of the top 20 guys who have given verbals (audible or silent, with or without gerbils ) to those schools?

Interesting indeed.

[CameronBornAndBred]

So it looks like $125K is merely one part of the equation. In truth, it could be much, much more for an elite prospect.

Without the restrictions of the NCAA's amateurism rules, players will also be free to hire agents, profit off their likenesses and pursue marketing deals from sneaker companies and the like, which could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in endorsement opportunities to top prospects.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/2...one-route-ncaa