The NBA G League is showing it is serious about creating a legitimate path for amateur players to bridge the gap between high school and the pros, and five-star recruit Jalen Green will become the first to try it out. After strongly considering signing Auburn and Memphis, the NBA added several new elements to the G League Select Contract that ultimately enticed Green to opt out of college.
“I wanted to get better overall and prepare myself for the NBA because that’s my ultimate goal,” Green told Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. “Everything was planned out right and set up for me to succeed.”
Those plans include the option to use a full scholarship given out by the NBA, a $500,000 salary, and a newly formed Select Team, which The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported will likely be put in southern California and play an abbreviated 20-game schedule (the G League usually plays 50 games). Green will also, as a professional athlete, be eligible to earn sponsorship money, while college athletes cannot.
Green won’t be the only blue-chip 2020 recruit on the select team, as five-star forward and former Michigan commit Isaiah Todd will join him.
Five-star prospect Isaiah Todd, who decommitted from Michigan, is expected to sign an NBA G League deal and join the new Southern California team featuring Jalen Green, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 16, 2020
According to a press release from the G League, “details of the new team Green will play for, which will be unaffiliated with any existing NBA G League franchise or NBA team, are forthcoming.” Among the questions that will be ironed out by NBA commissioner Adam Silver and G League president Shareef Abdur-Rahim is who else fills out the Select Team roster, who their competition is during the abbreviated schedule, and what facilities the team will use.
Currently, the Lakers’ and Clippers’ affiliates reside in South Bay and Ontario, respectively, so perhaps the Select Team will work with those franchises to use their facilities. The NBA’s obvious commitment to this plan could mean they invest in a new, more permanent facility elsewhere in southern California.
The NBA and its teams are awaiting an agreement with the NCAA on a reduction in the age limit whereupon young players can turn pro, from 19 back down to 18. The latest reporting has the 2022 NBA Draft as the soonest such a change might happen, meaning this Select Team plan could be in place for multiple seasons. Even if players are soon able to jump from preps to the pros, the Select Team may remain a viable option based on the immense investment the NBA is putting into it.
