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In a move that could defy the NCAA's monopoly on elite talent, the NBA's G League is creating a new venture as an alternative to the track laid out for top US basketball hopefuls, was announced on Thursday .
As part of a new professional path starting in the summer of 2019, the G League will be proposing "selection contracts" worth $ 125,000 to elite elite candidates of at least 18 years old but not yet eligible for the NBA project.
The G League will target recent or potential high school graduates who otherwise would have spent just one season playing college basketball, seducing them not only with a six-figure salary, but also by allowing them to benefit from the same. NBA infrastructure, as well as a host of out-of-court development programs "designed to facilitate and accelerate their transition to professional football," told ESPN, Malcolm Turner, president of the league.
Without the restrictions imposed by NCAA amateurism rules, players will also be free to hire agents, take advantage of their likeness and enter into marketing agreements with sneakers or similar companies, which could represent hundreds of thousands of dollars of benefits for the best prospects.
"We appreciate the NBA's decision to offer new opportunities to those who wish to pursue their dream of playing professionally," said NCAA President Mark Emmert in a statement. "The NCAA has recently implemented important reforms to promote student-athlete success, including greater flexibility in deciding to play professionally.
"Obtaining a university education continues to provide unparalleled preparation for success in life for the majority of student-athletes and remains an excellent path for professional sports for many." However, this change offers another option to those who would rather not go to university but want to pursue professional basketball directly ".
In April, the College Basketball Commission, created by the NCAA following a federal sport fraud investigation, recommended that the NCAA and the NBA consider alternatives for single-caliber leads. .
"High school elite players with NBA prospects and no interest in a university degree should not be forced to go to the university, often for less than a year," said Condoleezza Rice, chair of the commission, to the Associated Press. "One must be done, one way or the other."
Although changes to the NBA's age limit are unlikely to be implemented before the 2022 draft, the league sees this as a response to such criticism.
"The basketball community as a whole has called on the NBA to improve its G League offerings," Turner told ESPN. "We think it's an answer to this call. We think it's a thoughtful and sensible answer."
Thanks to its new partnership with USA Basketball, the NBA will have a captive audience of top US hopefuls in the NCAA Final Four in April and in the USA Basketball Junior National Team minicamp in October, where the G League will seek to present this career. to the many future players of the NBA present, as well as their families, according to Turner.
Seven of the top 10 high school players of the 2019 ESPN 100 are still not engaged in university programs, and the League of G Lennais could have huge consequences – for the future of star players, the popularity of the development league of the NBA and the college basketball talent pool.
Turner said the league would not pursue players already involved in the colleges, but that the career would be an alternative to potential candidates who decide to disengage themselves. Turner also said that the G League would be selective with the players that they wish to incorporate into the program – by putting strong emphasis on the character and willingness to join a professional league.
Many important details remain to be determined, including how elite prospects are identified, prosecuted and then assigned to G League teams. How many players will the G League look for in its first version of this adventure? Who will determine which prospects are good enough to make the cut? Will this business also be open to international players, including Canadians or Australians who often register for the NBA via American high schools or university basketball? What about Europeans?
These are questions that, according to Turner, will find an answer in the near future with the help of a dedicated program manager, who will be hired soon, who will oversee the G League's career path, as well as A working committee charged with several of these tasks. .
Although all logistics remain to be settled, the G League intends to offer future career paths access to NBA facilities, player development coaches and coaching staff well in advance of training camps. end of October. This is important given the long layoff period between the end of a player's career in the spring and the beginning of the season in November.
The G League will seek to complement the basketball aspect of this business with a significant out-of-court component as well, by borrowing from its existing range of development and education tools including opportunities for life, the post-career planning and scholarships through partnerships with universities. .
Athletes will only be able to play one season on a G League Select contract, after which they will automatically become eligible for this year's NBA draft. Article X of the NBA collective agreement already covers this for all US applicants eligible for a project: If a player provides contracted services for any non-NBA professional team before January 1, he is automatically placed in the next project.
The program will also be available only for players aged at least 18 years old (on September 15th, before the start of the season), eligible for the next draft of the NBA (19 years old in this calendar and one year old). ). graduates of high school graduation) and not enrolled in college.
The program has some potential concerns for potential candidates, G-League and NBA teams:
• Even if the company attracts top talent, will these 18 and 19 year old players make an impact at the G League level, where the average age of non-NBA players was 25 years old at the beginning of last season?
Given the significant difference in physical maturity and experience, G League Select prospects could risk their stock while their peers face competition from the NCAA. It will take some time to establish a baseline for what future prospects might produce in this level of competition.
• Will there be a conflict between some prospects and other players in the G League, many of whom will earn much less? Regular G League players earn $ 35,000 in base salary for a five-month season. Bonuses, NBA call-ups, bilateral offers, and contracts with Exhibit 10 earn more.
• NBA teams will likely want to draw potential first-round candidates from their G League affiliates to gather as much information as possible before the draft, but the G-League coaching staff will He invested so much in the development of players to be also equipped to help them win games?
G League officials are still considering resolving these issues, while leaving room for maneuver both before the official launch of the program and its launch. It will be fascinating to see how the world of college basketball reacts to the competition of its biggest stars and its most marketable athletes, especially as this sport is engulfed in a ongoing trial for corruption.
The NBA is expected to lower its age limit before the 2022 draft and allow high school graduates to go straight to the NBA without spending a year at the university or the G League, but League sources claim that such a company could end up being a model that is considered a potential tradeoff, depending on the evolution of things over the next three years.
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