As the NCAA drags its feet on compensating student-athletes, holding onto its amateur model in which everyone but the players profit, the trend of elite basketball prospects passing on college is continuing, and perhaps a new route has become even more enticing.
Consensus top-three prospect and McDonald’s All-American Jalen Green out of Prolific Prep (Calif.) announced his decision to sign with the G-League, the NBA’s developmental minor league, on Thursday, three days after Michigan recruit Isaiah Todd announced he was going pro as well.
The Athletic reported Todd will be joining Green as part of a “select team” located at a yet-to-be-determined city with a few more roster spots expected to go to top high school prospects and a number of veterans.
The team, unaffiliated to any NBA or G-League franchises, will play just 20 games, focusing instead on development and training. Green, according to Yahoo Sports, received a “substantial” six-figure contract that is believed to be in the neighborhood of $500,000. The deal also includes a full scholarship for him to earn a college degree.
“Of course, the money is better than an average G-League contract,” Green’s stepfather, Marcus Greene, told Yahoo. “This is an opportunity to develop for the next level and to show other kids alternative ways to develop your own career and brands.”
In October 2018, the NBA announced the G-League would be offering prospects $125,000 for one year, a sign the league was trying to steer top players away from college in the one-and-done era. The NCAA, meanwhile, had resisted allowing student-athletes to be financially compensated, even as states such as Florida and California passed laws that would enable student-athletes in those states to profit off their names. That eventually forced the NCAA into action, and in October the Board of Governors voted to allow Division I, II and III to separately make its own image and likeness policies with several limitations — the NCAA used the phrase “consistent with the college model” — that would be implemented by January 2021.
“I’m not saying that they need to pay competitively in order to stop players from an alternative,” ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas said in a phone interview. “Let’s take off the restriction on athletes so they’re provided with incentives to do what you think they should do in the first place, and that is going to go to college. If we believe that the best place for a young person is in college, why wouldn’t we remove all the barriers we put up for them to first go, and second remain, in college?”
G-League president Shareef Abdur-Rahim told The Post he disagreed with the notion that with this move the NBA intended to hurt college basketball. It was created to give top prospects who were looking for avenues other than college an opportunity to be professionals immediately without having to play in another country, he said. And it will enable them to play against high-caliber competition to ensure they are ready for the next level when they are eligible to be drafted.
“The couple of players that likely will look at this option are kids that were looking for other opportunities, to do something other than college basketball,” he said.
There were whispers that five-star recruit Terrence Clarke was going to take that path as well, before he quieted those rumors by tweeting that his decision to attend Kentucky hadn’t changed. An adviser of a top-ranked player, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he believes up to three other top 2020 prospects will be joining Green and Todd.
“I think it’s a genius move,” the adviser said. “Until kids are able to go straight to the NBA out of high school, I see this as a platform kids will use.”
Under the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement, players must be 19 years old and a year removed from high school to be eligible for the draft, though it is expected the one-and-done rule will be coming to an end shortly, possibly as soon as 2022. In the meantime, select players have chosen other routes.
Last year, five-star prospect R.J. Hampton opted to play professionally in New Zealand over college, and LaMelo Ball chose Australia, though he would not have been eligible for college anyway after playing professionally in Lithuania during his high school years. In 2018, Syracuse signee Darius Bazley initially planned to go straight to the G-League, but trained that year instead and served an internship with New Balance as part of an endorsement deal. In 2016, Terrance Ferguson played in Australia after committing to Arizona, and two years earlier Emmanuel Mudiay opted for China over SMU. Hampton and Ball are both projected lottery picks, while Bazley, Ferguson and Mudiay were all first-rounders.
“It’s a different world we’re living in now and it’s going to be a competitive outlet for top talent,” Bilas said. “The NCAA has got to pivot and deal with it.
“It’s going to continue. It’s not going to go the other way until college allows players to make money.”