NBA to reassess future of G League Ignite because of NIL Era

As the NBA reassesses the need for its professional developmental program, G League Ignite, the league is positioned to deliver the star-diminished sport of college basketball a much-needed win.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the league is reassessing the future of Team Ignite now that college athletes have an opportunity to make money through NIL opportunities while maintaining their college eligibility. Before the NIL Era began in July 2021, the NBA created Team Ignite to give elite professional prospects the chance to be compensated while also preparing for the NBA draft.

That same opportunity now exists in the college ranks, which puts the future of four-year-old Team Ignite in question.

“I think given that that’s happened, I think we are in the process of reassessing Team Ignite,” Silver said during  NBA All-Star weekend in Indianapolis. “Now some of those same players who didn’t want to be one-and-done players because they felt it was unfair and they wanted the ability not just to earn a living playing basketball but to do commercial deals that weren’t available to them at college, to hire professional agents, an opportunity that wasn’t available to them at college – all of those same opportunities have become available to them [in college basketball].

“I’m not sure what the future of Team Ignite will be. Because before there was a hole in the marketplace that we thought we were filling before doing that, and now my focus is turning to earlier development of those players.”

Could more stars choose college basketball?

If Team Ignite is discontinued, it could funnel at least a few more high-profile players through college basketball, albeit even for just one season. College basketball would surely welcome more elite players with name recognition. This season’s college landscape offers a dearth of recognizable stars, except for Purdue‘s Zach Edey.

The churn of players through college basketball is cyclical, of course. While this is not the strongest crop of collegiate pro prospects, next season will see the likes of current high school sensation Cooper Flagg playing at Duke. In addition, the Overtime Elite professional league still exists as a possible pit-stop for elite teenage basketball prospects before they become draft-eligible at 19.

So even in an ecosystem without Team Ignite, college basketball still would not be the only possible destination for NBA prospects.

But it could be a particularly attractive destination without Ignite looming as another avenue to the pros, and with a college sports revenue-sharing model likely on the horizon.

G League Ignite has produced top players

Ignite has groomed its share of notable players since its inception.

The Houston Rockets’ Jalen Green was drafted third in 2021, the New Orleans Pelicans’ Dyson Daniels was picked eighth in 2022 and the Portland Trail Blazers‘ Scoot Henderson was selected third last June. 

But this has not been a season to remember for Ignite. The team is 6-31 overall and one of their draft prospects, Ron Holland, is done for the season and awaiting the draft following thumb surgery. The Duncanville, Texas, native was committed to Texas until he requested a release from his National Letter of Intent last April and signed with Ignite.

In the past, Silver signaled that he favored changing the NBA draft-eligible age back to 18 in part to allow players who were legally adults the opportunity to be compensated for playing basketball.

But the seismic change college sports has undergone – and very much continues to undergo – that affords college athletes increasing opportunities to be compensated has changed the calculus.

“As we sat down with our players to discuss that and then essentially the college market changed, the introduction of collectives, NIL, the transfer portal, a lot changed around us,” Silver said. “We came to a consensus when we sat down with the players and our teams that we were better off staying at 19.”

NBA, NCAA talking about youth basketball

Silver also said during an interview with TNT he has engaged in multiple discussions with NCAA President Charlie Baker about, among other issues, “How we can come together in youth basketball.”

Youth basketball in the United States has long been derided for a multitude of reasons. Leading voices, including Doc Rivers in recent months, have drawn a distinction between the youth developmental system in the U.S. versus what exists in Europe, which is increasingly producing high-level NBA players. 

In short, U.S. teenagers may play six games for every one practice during summer league play. In Europe, it’s the reverse.

“These young American players better watch out because the European players are better players coming into the league, they’re better prepared coming into the league,” Rivers told Bill Simmons this winter. “They’re competitors, and a lot of our young players are not. They play six games in a day. They come into the league, and they want to put on a show.”

Close to 30% of the NBA is now foreign-born players, including the last five MVPs. 

“It’s clear that the development is very different in many of those programs outside the United States,” Silver said. “More of a focus on practice, less of a focus on games, which seems to be the opposite of many of the youth programs in the United States.

“I think that now we’ve begun discussions with the NCAA, the vast majority of the top players will play in college and never play in the NBA, of course, so we have a common interest in just improving the game – developing players.”