NBA takes one step closer to eliminating one-and-done

The world of basketball has long had problems with the idea of ​​"one-and-done" players. The announcement Thursday of the new "Select Contract" of the G League is the latest attempt by the NBA to deal with rhetoric with something that 18-year-old players can understand: cold hard money.

The league announced that it would begin offering these contracts valued at $ 125,000 to elite candidates wishing to play professionally upon graduation from high school starting in 2019-20. This is the latest decision: giving the best high school players the opportunity to enter the professional ranks without stopping, even for a symbolic year. And while this may sound like an affront to the NCAA on the surface, this announcement is a direct result of recommendations made in the spring by the University Basketball Commission, chaired by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

The commission said that players who spent a year in college before enrolling in the pros "played an important role in the destabilization and corruption of college basketball," among others. The NBA has announced a number of initiatives reflecting its growing interest in youth gambling. The league and its players both announced that they would agree to eliminate the rule barring high school students from entering the NBA earlier than expected. later.

Thursday's announcement lays the groundwork for such an initiative.

[WNBA players, observers are not fans of NBA’s new G League plan]

"Some contracts are a response to the call by the basketball community for additional development opportunities for elite players before they are eligible for the NBA," said the NBA G League president, Malcolm Turner, in a statement. "The support infrastructure surrounding these new Select contracts is designed to provide a rich offering of basketball and psychosocial development tools for young players to develop throughout their careers, from high school to pros. "

The announcement has left many gray areas. NBA observers wondered whether $ 125,000 would be enough to encourage elite candidates to leave the comfort of high-level basketball in Division I. Negotiating a life filled with charter flights, luxury facilities and games played in front of tens of thousands of spectators and millions more on television for a circuit dominated by bus rides, connecting flights in economic seats and streaming games in half-full arenas Online will undoubtedly be a pill hard to swallow.

But the league believes that it is not really about encouraging the hopes of the elite to no longer be players "one by one". We think beyond, the day when the option is no longer on the table. The NBA wants to bring younger players into the G League to ease the transition when high school players do not see a problem going straight to the pros – which will inevitably mean more young players will join the minor league. Some believe that the NBA will remove its age limit by 2022, which would give the G League three years to prepare for its new reality.

After spending years declaring that the league was not interested in taking teens out of high school gyms, she preferred to see her younger employees spend at least a year in college before being eligible for the repechage, to return to the previous model of players jumping straight. high school won steam. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and the Players Association's Executive Director, Michele Roberts, have hinted over the summer that such an initiative could be imminent.

[Adam Silver says NBA is ‘ready’ to make a change to the league’s draft age limit]

The continued involvement of the NCAA in the scandal of shoe rulers who are victims of "pay-for-play" schemes has only underscored the inequities in the system from the point of view of the players. And while university basketball has long sought to profit from its players while preventing them, recent scandals have led many people involved, including the Rice commission, to declare that the time of players entering and leaving the college should take end. Etc.

The announcement of the G League is only part of a more ambitious NBA plan to take control of grassroots sport. The young basketball hopefuls in this country have to navigate the murky waters of the AAU balloon and possibly recruit Division I pitchers – an adventure filled with intermediaries who do not want to be involved. often do not care about the interests of the players.

Slowly, however, the NBA brings the world closer to American basketball where it will not be the case. The elimination of the "one and done" will be a step in this direction. The creation of the NBA World Junior Championship, a youth basketball initiative launched this year on a model similar to that of the Little League series (including national television), is another example.

Point by point, the NBA takes control of the game at all levels. For years, it was something the league had avoided. But since Silver has taken power, he has recognized the value of greater involvement in prospect development.

The actual mechanics of how all this will work will remain to be seen. The league will have a separate program for players under "select contracts", but what will the G League teams with their own development goals think about training players that will not pass to their parent organizations? Throughout the year, instructions will be given to the players, but it is not known who will provide them.

Nevertheless, nothing will prevent players from simply spending the year training and working on their games – as Darius Bazley, one of the best rookies, has chosen this season after flirting with the idea of ​​playing in the G League. Of course, Bazley did not try to make six figures to play in the G League either. Maybe in this scenario, he would have chosen differently.

Over the next few years, the NBA will have 30 G League teams and will be able to set up a real minor league, much like baseball. Golden State Warriors general manager Bob Myers said recently that this was the direction he was heading.

Getting control of youth basketball is just one step in this process. Thursday's announcement was another important decision in this direction.

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