Recently, one of the top high school basketball prospects, Jalen Green, decided to forego college and join the G League’s professional pathway program. This program uses the NBA’s minor league to train the top graduating high school prospects and pay them $500,000 for their year-long stint.
Green is not the only prospect expected to join this program, as top high school seniors Isaiah Todd, Makur Maker, Karim Mane and Kai Soto are each rumored to be possible additions. Green’s decision has created concern that this could jeopardize the future of NCAA basketball, but this could actually fix problems that have been plaguing the NCAA.
When combing through college basketball’s storied history, it does not take long to notice who the greatest programs of all time are and what distinguishes one from the other. These programs embody winning traditions and have developed cultures that enable them to attract and churn out high profile players and assemble ultra-talented teams. While this has ruined the intimate aspect of college basketball (where fans not only follow their teams but also develop a bond with the team’s players), the G League program that seeks to develop top high school graduates to prepare for the NBA may unintentionally be a way to fix this problem.
Since 2006, when the one-and-done era began, it has been very common for the top high school basketball prospects to attend college for one basketball season and then declare for the NBA Draft. This has been detrimental to developing the old culture and tradition surrounding the top basketball schools as some like Duke and Kentucky have become feeder schools for the NBA with their rosters changing each season.
The top schools in the NCAA now rely on their ability to attract top recruits using resumes that include how effectively they develop their talented players, how high players are selected in the NBA draft and how many top recruits they have already recruited (players want to collude and form “dream teams”). Rather than relying on their winning tradition and culture, they rely on their ability to get players to the NBA (which is a completely different culture in its own right). This hinders the NCAA game because winning is no longer as important as it once was, but rather maximizing player draft stock is.
An ESPN article written by Jonathan Givony and Adrian Wojnarowski states that Green’s decision “… has broad implications for the future of the NCAA and NBA landscapes.” With other top prospects Lamelo Ball and RJ Hampton from last year’s high school class foregoing college to play in the Australian professional basketball league, the NBA, looking to make scouting easier, wanted to find ways to entice those interested in going overseas to play professionally to stay in the United States. The G League’s program now gives graduates the opportunity to train for the NBA, play exhibition games and be paid a substantial six-figure salary.
While this program does have broad implications for the future of college basketball—the biggest being the question of whether the top high school talent will continue to pursue the collegiate route—it has the potential to do wonders for college athletics.
Fans can no longer associate a particular player with a school for more than one season, like JJ Redick and Christian Laettner with Duke or Bill Walton and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with UCLA, because these players leave after that season. Theoretically the G League program changes this, however, because the hierarchy of the top college basketball players will be shifted. Since the draft classes would not change—because the top athletes will be in the G League’s program—more of the top collegiate athletes will now stay on their respective teams.
Additionally, if more high school prospects join the G League’s program, the exodus will weed out one-and-done players and free more scholarships to student-athletes looking to get degrees and graduate from their universities. A consistent argument that the NCAA tries to make to not pay collegiate athletes is that the top athletes are given the invaluable reward of a free college education. This, however, is merely a façade as some of the top prospects that this is aimed towards (particularly top 100 recruits) do not even go on to graduate. Yet, this new G League program may enable other student-athletes with the intent to graduate to get scholarships and have a free education, while unintentionally strengthening the NCAA’s argument that they provide that service.
The eligibility protocols currently in place for the NBA enables the NCAA to be hindered with these problems. Take, for instance, the NFL’s eligibility standards which state that a player must be three years removed from high school before they are eligible for the NFL draft.
This indirectly and inadvertently allows for the intimate nature of fanfare in college football. There is a reason why Clemson football is associated with Trevor Lawrence, Alabama associated with Tua Tagovailoa and so forth.
Most importantly, if the G League’s program becomes a popular outlet for the top high school prospects, the quality of NCAA play will not decrease. March Madness will continue to be one of the most exciting sporting events of the year and the longevity of players’ careers will enable seasoned play in the tournament and a higher level of competitiveness.