The NBA announced a while ago that athletes can now enter the NBA through the G-League. Some players have already done this such as Jalen Green and Johnathan Kuminga, and they have excelled on the Ignite. Other star recruits such as Scoot Henderson and Jaden Hardy have also committed to the G-League over college. This does seem like a good way to go for NBA-Ready recruits who are certainly going to be drafted, but what does this mean for college basketball?
How will CBB be affected?
For now, college basketball will be fine. The NBA only has one team that is harboring recruits at the moment, meaning a maximum of fifteen or sixteen players. Removing a tiny fraction of players from the college scene will not affect much. However, if the NBA decides to expand the process, then there may be a problem. That will remove too many players and remove college basketball viewership. As a result, the NCAA will plummet downward in ratings and other areas.
Problems with the Media
College basketball is not the only problem; the media will be affected. Players may not be well-advised, as much as they are during college, and with the new age of social media, they could post some questionable things, such as Jamal Murray’s Instagram Story from last year or, in other sports, Jake Fromm’s texts which caused an uproar in the sports world. Their education should be a priority no matter if they are projected to be picked first or last in the draft because this will cause a less formal approach to the NBA which is not the way to go for a broadened audience of all ages and races.
Conclusion
Overall, I do feel that the G-League route is a good way for players to get a glimpse into what the NBA will be like. However, the expansion of it will be detrimental to college basketball, as well as media and the NBA itself. Funding for this will need to be extraordinary. To pay the players large sums of money such as Jalen Green’s salary of 500,000 dollars is outrageous. Alas, Adam Silver is smarter than me (slightly), so I’m sure he knows what to do.