If five-star recruit Jalen Green hadn’t opted to follow the NBA G League’s revamped professional path, he likely would’ve ended up playing for Penny Hardaway and the Memphis Tigers in college. As such, it’s perhaps unsurprising that Hardaway doesn’t sound thrilled by the NBAGL’s aggressive new approach to courting top high school prospects.
“I didn’t think the G League was built — and I could be wrong — to go and recruit kids that want to go to college out of going to college,” Hardaway told local reporters on Friday, per Jason Munz of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. “I thought they were going to be the organization that was going to be, if you want to go overseas or you absolutely did not want to play college 100 percent, that this would be the best situation for you before you go into the NBA.
“But taking guys out of their commitments (or) they’ve already signed and continuing to talk to their parents, it’s almost like tampering. I really don’t agree with that.”
Unlike Green, who had only talked informally about planning to sign with Memphis, top recruits Isaiah Todd and Daishen Nix opted for the NBAGL path after committing to Michigan and UCLA, respectively. They had to renege on those commitments to sign with the G League.
Here are a few more items on the G League:
- Ethan Strauss of The Athletic doesn’t have a problem with the G League actively pursuing top high school players. Strauss suggests it makes sense for the NBA to try to “kneecap” the NCAA, arguing that it’s more of a competing business than a “free farm system.”
- Jeremy Woo of SI.com takes a closer look at how the G League’s new Select Team will work and assesses Green, Nix, and Todd as NBA prospects.
- While prospects like Green, Todd, and Nix will do well financially as part of the G League’s new program, most of the rest of the league’s players continue to earn modest salaries and aren’t exactly living an NBA-type lifestyle. Shams Charania of The Athletic reports (via Twitter) that the G League will be making some minor upgrades to conditions for players starting in 2020/21, increasing their daily per diem by $15 and ensuring that players get their own hotel rooms on the road, rather than having to share with teammates.
I certainly can’t disagree with Penny here (disclaimer: I live in Memphis, I may be a bit biased). However, the NCAA has had a stranglehold on student athletes for a long time, and I doubt anybody can deny that schools make a ton of money off their athletes. Maybe this will be the wakeup call that the NCAA needs; once they start to see revenue slide because top recruits have another avenue, they’ll have to up the ante to recruits.
I doubt the GL+ will work as planned. It qualifies for blowback (like the tampering charge), unlike the regular GL. It’s more like something attempted to say it was attempted.
Above, mentions a new round of subsidies. NBA Franchisees will ask, for the money, why bother?