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Top high school player Jalen Green enters NBA/G League pathway
California high school star Jalen Green, the No. 1 prospect in the 2020 ESPN 100, is making the leap to a reshaped NBA professional pathway program -- a G League initiative that will pay elite prospects $500,000-plus and provide a one-year development program outside of the minor league's traditional team structure, sources told ESPN.
Green -- a potential No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NBA draft -- announced Thursday that he is bypassing college to become the professional pathway's first participant, a decision that likely clears the way for more commitments from elite prospects.
His decision to join the NBA and G League's development program for the 2020-21 season has broad implications for the future of the NCAA and NBA landscapes. NBA commissioner Adam Silver and G League president Shareef Abdur-Rahim have worked to eliminate two massive hurdles to convincing players uninterested in college basketball to pass on the lucrative National Basketball League of Australia by providing a massive salary increase and a structure that doesn't include playing full time in the G League.
Once top 2020 draft prospects LaMelo Ball and RJ Hampton chose to play professionally in Australia this year, Silver became more determined in pushing Abdur-Rahim to explore a financial and basketball structure that enticed top American prospects. Green represents a massive breakthrough for the NBA's long-standing goal of gaining access to top prospects who want an alternative to the NCAA.
"That's a real program that the NBL has," Abdur-Rahim told ESPN. "It's appealing. We have kids leaving the United States -- Texas and California and Georgia -- to go around the world to play, and our NBA community has to travel there to scout them. That's counterintuitive. The NBA is the best development system in the world, and those players shouldn't have to go somewhere else to develop for a year. They should be in our development system."
The NBA's talks remain stalled with the National Basketball Players Association on an agreement to end the one-and-done draft model, leaving this revamped pro pathway program as a bridge to what is believed will be the eventual elimination of the rule requiring American players to wait a year after high school graduation before entering the draft.
Green is committing to become part of a yearlong developmental program with G League oversight that will include professional coaching, top prospects and veteran players who will combine training and exhibition competitions against the likes of G League teams, foreign national teams and NBA academies throughout the world, sources said.
Entire article: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...player-jalen-green-enter-nba-g-league-pathway
California high school star Jalen Green, the No. 1 prospect in the 2020 ESPN 100, is making the leap to a reshaped NBA professional pathway program -- a G League initiative that will pay elite prospects $500,000-plus and provide a one-year development program outside of the minor league's traditional team structure, sources told ESPN.
Green -- a potential No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NBA draft -- announced Thursday that he is bypassing college to become the professional pathway's first participant, a decision that likely clears the way for more commitments from elite prospects.
His decision to join the NBA and G League's development program for the 2020-21 season has broad implications for the future of the NCAA and NBA landscapes. NBA commissioner Adam Silver and G League president Shareef Abdur-Rahim have worked to eliminate two massive hurdles to convincing players uninterested in college basketball to pass on the lucrative National Basketball League of Australia by providing a massive salary increase and a structure that doesn't include playing full time in the G League.
Once top 2020 draft prospects LaMelo Ball and RJ Hampton chose to play professionally in Australia this year, Silver became more determined in pushing Abdur-Rahim to explore a financial and basketball structure that enticed top American prospects. Green represents a massive breakthrough for the NBA's long-standing goal of gaining access to top prospects who want an alternative to the NCAA.
"That's a real program that the NBL has," Abdur-Rahim told ESPN. "It's appealing. We have kids leaving the United States -- Texas and California and Georgia -- to go around the world to play, and our NBA community has to travel there to scout them. That's counterintuitive. The NBA is the best development system in the world, and those players shouldn't have to go somewhere else to develop for a year. They should be in our development system."
The NBA's talks remain stalled with the National Basketball Players Association on an agreement to end the one-and-done draft model, leaving this revamped pro pathway program as a bridge to what is believed will be the eventual elimination of the rule requiring American players to wait a year after high school graduation before entering the draft.
Green is committing to become part of a yearlong developmental program with G League oversight that will include professional coaching, top prospects and veteran players who will combine training and exhibition competitions against the likes of G League teams, foreign national teams and NBA academies throughout the world, sources said.
Entire article: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...player-jalen-green-enter-nba-g-league-pathway
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