G League to offer $125K to elite prospects as alternative to college one-and-done route
In a move that could challenge the NCAA's monopoly on elite talent, the NBA's G League is creating a new venture as an alternative to the one-and-done route for the best American basketball prospects, it was announced Thursday.
As part of a newly formed professional path starting in the summer of 2019, the G League will offer "Select Contracts" worth $125,000 to elite prospects who are at least 18 years old but not yet eligible for the NBA draft.
The G League will target recent or would-be high school graduates who otherwise would have likely spent just one season playing college basketball, enticing them not only with a six-figure salary but also the opportunity to benefit from NBA infrastructure, as well as a bevy of off-court development programs "geared toward facilitating and accelerating their transition to the pro game," league president Malcolm Turner told ESPN.
While Kentucky Wildcats coach John Calipari has said players should be able to skip college for the NBA, he told ESPN those going to the G League should be guaranteed eight semesters of college if they don't make it to the NBA.
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.
"We appreciate the NBA's decision to provide additional opportunities for those who would like to pursue their dream of playing professionally," NCAA president Mark Emmert said in a statement. "The NCAA recently implemented significant reforms to support student-athlete success, including more flexibility when deciding whether to play professionally.
"Obtaining a college education continues to provide unmatched preparation for success in life for the majority of student-athletes and remains an excellent path to professional sports for many. However, this change provides another option for those who would prefer not to attend college but want to directly pursue professional basketball."
In April, the Commission on College Basketball, formed by the NCAA after a federal investigation into fraud in the sport, recommended that the NCAA and NBA embrace alternative options for one-and-done-caliber prospects.
"Elite high school players with NBA prospects and no interest in a college degree should not be forced to attend college, often for less than a year," commission chair Condoleezza Rice told The Associated Press. "One-and-done has to go, one way or another."
While changes to the NBA's age limit likely won't be implemented until the 2022 draft, the league considers this a response to such criticism.
"The broader basketball community has called for the NBA to enhance our G League offerings," Turner told ESPN. "We believe this is an answer to that call. We believe this is a thoughtful and responsive answer."
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Turner said the league will not pursue those players who have already committed to colleges, but the professional path would be an alternative to those prospects who make a choice on their own to decommit. Turner also said the G League will be selective with the players they look to bring into the program -- with a strong emphasis on character and readiness to join a pro league.
Many important details are still yet to be decided, including the way in which elite prospects are identified, pursued and then assigned to G League teams. How many players will the G League look to include in its first iteration of this venture? Who will determine which prospects are good enough to make the cut? Will this venture be open to international players as well, including Canadians or Australians who often matriculate to the NBA via American high schools or college basketball? What about Europeans?
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Entire article:
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...-prospects-not-wanting-go-one-done-route-ncaa
