The NBA G League’s regular season won’t begin for another month, but all 30 NBAGL teams are currently competing in the Showcase Cup, a round-robin event that culminates in a single-elimination tournament at the G League’s Winter Showcase from December 19-22.
We’re only midway through the 16-game Showcase Cup, with each NBAGL team having played between seven and 10 games so far, but a number of standout performers are making their mark.
Some of those top players, like Luka Garza of the Iowa Wolves or Jaden Hardy of the Texas Legends, are already under contract with NBA teams and aren’t free agents. But many of the G League players turning heads are free to sign with any NBA club at any time.
Listed below are five early G League standouts who are making strong cases to be considered for NBA call-ups at some point this season. This is hardly a comprehensive list of the NBAGL’s top performers — it’s a safe bet that many more will receive NBA consideration in the coming days, weeks, or months, especially when the 10-day signing period begins in January. But these five players are worth singling out for their early-season play.
Let’s dive in…
Sharife Cooper, G, Cleveland Charge
A two-way player with the Hawks last season, Cooper accepted a two-way qualifying offer from Atlanta in July, but was waived shortly thereafter and spent training camp with the Cavaliers, becoming an affiliate player for Cleveland.
In 10 games so far for the Charge, Cooper has been one of the G League’s most dynamic offensive players, pouring in 25.3 points per game on .489/.433/.811 shooting while also chipping in 6.2 assists, 3.7 rebounds, and 1.6 steals per night.
Cooper isn’t a consistent defender, but his offensive ability will intrigue NBA evaluators. He’s the G League’s reigning Performer of the Week after posting back-to-back 40-point games on November 15 and 17 and has helped lead the Charge to a 6-4 record.
Carlik Jones, G, Windy City Bulls
Jones, 25 next month, got a brief taste of NBA action last winter as a 10-day hardship signee for the Mavericks and the Nuggets, appearing in five total games for the two teams. After spending training camp with the Bulls, he’s back in the G League this season for the Windy City Bulls, whose 6-2 record places them atop the Central.
Jones has been a major reason for Windy City’s early success, leading the team with 17.5 PPG and 8.1 APG. After struggling to consistently make his three-pointers in his first pro season in 2021/22, the former Louisville standout is hitting 41.9% of his treys so far this season and making 1.6 per game.
Jay Huff, F/C, South Bay Lakers
Huff began the 2021/22 season on a two-way contract with the Lakers and made brief appearances in four NBA games before being waived in January. The 24-year-old is still in the organization at South Bay and has emerged as one of the G League’s most fearsome rim protectors — he has blocked 35 shots in his first eight games this season and comfortably leads the league with 4.4 BPG.
Huff’s impact has gone beyond his shot-blocking ability. He’s also one of South Bay’s go-to scorers, averaging 17.9 PPG on 68.1% shooting; he leads the club with 8.9 RPG; and he has even shown off some play-making ability, averaging 3.1 APG.
If Huff can boost his three-point rate a few points (currently 29.4%), he’ll become an even more appealing target for NBA teams looking to develop a frontcourt prospect.
James Akinjo, G, Westchester Knicks
Although Akinjo earned a spot on the All-Big 12 First Team during his final college season in 2021/22, the Baylor guard struggled mightily with his shot, making just 38.3% attempts from the field and 29.5% from beyond the arc. So it has been encouraging to see him boost those averages to 46.4% and 46.7% in his first seven G League games.
The Westchester Knicks are just 1-6 so far, but Akinjo has been a bright spot, pouring in 19.9 points per night and tying for the G League lead with an impressive 11.1 assists per game.
Jontay Porter, F/C, Wisconsin Herd
The younger brother of Michael Porter Jr., Jontay Porter is a former five-star recruit whose college career was derailed by a pair of ACL tears. He’s still just 23 years old though and has been healthy through the Herd’s first 10 games.
Despite playing just 26.2 minutes per game and primarily coming off the bench, Porter has filled up the box score in Wisconsin, averaging 16.2 PPG, 8.4 RPG, 2.9 APG, and 1.8 BPG while making 3.1 three-pointers per game at a 46.3% rate.
The Grizzlies took a flier on Porter during the 2020/21 season and played him in 11 games — it may be just a matter of time before he earns another shot at the NBA level.
This is why expansion will be good for the league as a whole. We clearly have enough talent in the NBA and the G-league that adding 34 more roster spots won’t create a huge talent disparity. And once they add those two teams, they can add two more G-League teams, which add 20 more spots. Personally, I think 3 two-way guys is a good idea that the NBA should look at, but it would probably help with how many injuries and load management happen now.
I agree with you. I saw this article and was able to find it again surprisingly. link to basketballnews.com
Some teams might get “diluted” so to speak temporarily, but ultimately would end up fine if they have a good front office.
The NBA is definitely moving towards expansion.
Don’t know much about Akinjo. But those stats sure look good.
Akinjo was the PG at Georgetown with Mac McClung before they both left. Was a solid starter at Arizona for a couple years before he went to Baylor and was one of their better players last year.
Expansion would be fun but the logistics of it would be daunting for the League. Vegas is viable but what’s the other city, if it’s Seattle then that draws viewers away Portland and is the Pacific Northwest where we need to add 2 teams?
Expansion doesn’t really help the teams that are already in the League unless there is a ridiculous franchise fee.
Also why not keep the TV and stream deals you have with a caveat to renegotiate if expansion happens. Why split the same pie 32 ways if you could just split it 30 ways?
Do the Wolves or Pels or Griz move to the East if it’s Vegas and Seattle or maybe Mexico City?
Even for the players. They get 51% of Basketball Related Income. If the cost of expansion is a franchise fee then that’s not BRI and then the players would be splitting the same amount of money more thinly basically until a new TV deal is done.
The best thing would be all of the roster maneuvers. One of the Expansion GM’s could just only Expansion Draft the extreme underpaid guys. Then he would have like 90% of his cap space to work with. There would be trade exceptions going out everywhere it would be chaos. Fun chaos but chaos.
Picking a team full of underpaid guys would be great. A whole team of
PG: Jose Alvarado, Ayo, Andrew Nemhard, Josh Hart, Dyson Daniels, Bones, Cam Thomas, J McLaughlin
SG: Deanthony Melton, Garrison Matthews, Strus, Terrance Davis
SF: Dean Wade, Kenrich Williams, Herb Jones, Trey Murphy III, Martin Brothers, K Mart Jr, the list goes on.
PF: Jarrett Vanderbilt, Jalen Johnson, Tari Eason, B Clarke, J Tate, PJ Washington, Grant Williams, JRE
C: Hartenstien, Bol Bol, Nick Richard’s, I Stewart
That’s just naming guys but you could make a decent play in type team with like 50 million and then add 2 max guys.
A lot of those guys are still on rookie deals so haven’t even had the chance to get a good contract.
Love the idea of expansion theres definitely enough talent but it’s always about money.
Also like the idea of 3 two way guys
Looking at teams since COVID and the bubble you see a lot more young guys that don’t get opportunities and less veteran locker room guys.
I don’t know how you fix it but I think every team should have atleast 2 veteran locker room guys. Maybe they only play 10 appearances all season but in terms of culture building, developing young guys, settling issues and everything else they provide.
Maybe have a designated vet allowance, like 5mil that doesn’t count against the cap for teams to specifically bring in guys with over 10 years NBA service. Instead of the vet min which can just go to any guy with over 3 years of service and is only 1.5 mil I believe.
Teams should be about 10 rotational guys, 2/3 vets and then 2/3 young developmental guys and then a couple two way guys you take flyers on and have in your g league team.
Another idea I had that would probably be pretty far fetched would be adding a third round to the draft just for two way guys, but those picks are only tradeable if you call up a guy from another teams g league. Just a thought that could work
Las Vegas Buck$
Carlik Jones.
The NBA is not expanding anytime soon in my opinion. The NBA gives floor seats away, charges for the nose bleeds, and banks on T.V. money. Now its streaming money, which is less exposure, and less advertising revenue. Which is why the jersey advertisements are resembling Europe leagues. Jersey patches, NFT’s were an attempt to recoup lost T.V. revenue. T.V. is dead, nobody pays for it anymore but old people who need the news 24/7. NFT’s bombed out, dead like crypto & FTX. The mini covid wave is over, and I don’t think the NBA, NFL,NHL, NASCAR or MLB business model & practices can survive as-is much longer.