The G-League and Overtime Elite add players: What does it mean for college hoops?!

As a basketball community, we learned a very valuable lesson late last week: It pays to be a good, young, talented American basketball player. That has been apparent for a few years and became abundantly clear last Friday

That’s because less than two years after RJ Hampton first elected to go to Australia and a year after the “G-League Ignite” program was formed, on Friday, three new high school players signed professional contracts. First up, we had the first signees of the new “Overtime Elite” basketball league, as Matt and Ryan Bewley were each paid a reported $1 million to sign a two-year contract with the league. Just a few hours later, top 2022 point guard Scoota Henderson announced he would reclassify into the class of 2021 and sign with the G-League. Because he is only 17-years-old, he is also committed for two years (since the NBA Draft age minimum is 19-years-old) and like the Bewley’s, he will reportedly get $1 million over that two-year period.

So yeah, there ya have it: One day. Three players. Three million dollars. Again, it pays to be young and talented at college basketball.

It also might be a lot for the average fan to follow, if you don’t pay attention to all this stuff 365 days a year. Many of you are probably wondering: What is “Overtime Elite?” How is it different from the G-League pathway program? And what does it mean for the future of college hoops?

I spent a ton of time breaking it all down on today’s Aaron Torres Podcast (which you can download here), but figured now might be a good time to go ahead and further explain here.

Here’s everything you need to know about Overtime Elite, G-League Ignite and what it all means for college hoops:

What is Overtime Elite? 

Let’s start with the “Overtime Elite” program, which is new in the pantheon of pathways for players to skip college basketball. And boy oh boy did they make waves last week, signing – as mentioned above – Matt and Ryan Bewley. If you’re a college hoops diehard but have never heard of the Bewley twins, you’re not alone: The two just finished their sophomore years of high school.

That’s right, sophomore year. Meaning they won’t be eligible to play in the NBA for another three seasons (two high school years and their “one and done” season). Yet they’ll be paid a cool $1 million to play in this new start-up league.

Before we get to the players, and the benefits and drawbacks, let’s first explain what the Overtime Elite League is. As mentioned, it is a new alternative to college basketball, run by the famed “Overtime” brand. If you’ve ever watched a high school mixtape on YouTube (and my guess is, anyone reading this article has) you know the name “Overtime.” Well now they’ve started a new league where they take young players and essentially put them in an “academy style” setting. Players will still be able to attend school, while also training in basketball year-round, all while getting paid real money with the ability to use their name, image and likeness to make additional cash.

Investors in the league include NBA players like Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony, as well as Drake and Jeff Bezos (my guess is those last few guys didn’t actually write a check, but instead are involved through a hedge fund). The goal is to sign 30 players to compete on four teams, and start things up this coming September 2021.

They’ll be coached by former UConn head coach Kevin Ollie.

Who they’ll play (outside each other) remains to be seen.

What made Friday’s announcement so shocking in basketball circles: 

What makes Overtime Elite so interesting – and different than the G-League – is this: Because they have the academic component to things, they can take younger players than the G-League. The G-League is simply a “bridge year” program between high school and the NBA Draft that basically replaces the “one and done” year on a college campus. With the academic component, Overtime Elite can in theory take just about any player of any age.

And that’s certainly what made Friday’s announcement so, darn, wild: The idea that this company was willing to pay $1 million to high school sophomores. To be clear, I’m not saying it’s good or bad. Credit to those kids. But it’s definitely different.

Think about it another way: College coaches aren’t even allowed to contact players by phone until June 1st going into their junior year.

Two guys that John Calipari, Coach K and Bill Self were planning to call in two weeks each signed for $1 million. Not bad.

Why Overtime Elite could have a lot of success, but also why it might fail:

The reason Overtime Elite could have a ton of success is pretty simple: They’re willing to pay a crap ton of money for good, young high school players. I love college hoops as much as anyone, and I had a moment on Friday where it hit me: If I had kids (which I don’t) and someone offered my son $1 million at 15-years-old, it’d be hard for me to turn it down.

So yeah, I expect there to be some interest. There are plenty of drawbacks, which we’ll get to momentarily. But money talks. And at least for right now, Overtime Elite is flashing plenty of it.

But there are still drawbacks to the league, most of which center around what made Friday’s announcement so interesting: You’re offering an awful lot of money, to a whole bunch of unproven and unknown players.

Again, let me be clear: I don’t blame the kids or their parents for taking the money. At the same time, it’s hard to build a business off of players no one has ever heard of. Again, I’m about as diehard as they come and I had never heard of Ryan and Matt Bewley before Friday. Most people hadn’t. Honestly, how many guys are household names – even in grassroots basketball circles – in their sophomore years of high school? LaMelo Ball, Zion Williamson, Emoni Bates, that’s all I can think of in recent years. So while it makes sense to overpay for talent early, at some point those business investors are going to expect a return on their investment. I don’t see how it’s coming if you’re offering $500,000 to a bunch of kids the general public has never heard of.

Beyond that, something that I find interesting to consider: Does anyone realize how hard it is to project how players that young will evolve and develop? Anyone who follows high school basketball recruiting knows that. Some kids develop quicker, mature quicker and are physically imposing early in their high school careers, while others take more time to get there. Just for fun, look at recent winners of the high school, “National Freshman of the Year” honors. Taking out those who are still in high school (Emoni Bates and Mikey Williams), there is one player who has won the award last decade and looks like he is on his way to being a star in the NBA: LaMelo Ball. The others have all basically evolved into NBA role players, if they’re in the NBA at all. On the flip side, there are of course plenty of guys who develop later in high school, or even in college that no one could’ve projected would turn into stars.

Think about it another way: If NBA teams routinely miss when evaluating 19 and 20-year-old NBA prospects, what do we think the hit rate is going to be when evaluating 15-year-olds now? Especially when you’re hoping for a return on your investment in a $500,000 salary?

There are issues at play here as well: One, as KSR wrote about earlier today, there is now a new elite high school league featuring the likes of Montverde, IMG and the other top basketball programs in the country. They obviously don’t pay, but the competition will be just as good (if not better) and so will the exposure, since all those schools routinely play on national TV. You also keep your options open if you do want to go to college.

Furthermore, what happens when “Name, Image, Likeness” comes to college basketball in the next year? At that point, Kentucky, Duke, Kansas etc. can compensate their players, and those same players get all the benefits of college basketball, be it national TV exposure, elite coaching, training, meals, travel and of course better competition.

I still think this new Overtime Elite league will get players. But I’m curious what their roster looks like come their launch this coming fall. I’m also curious where the league is five years from now. That’s not me “rooting against them” as a college hoops guy. Just genuine curiosity.

How about G-League Ignite?

By now anyone who follows college hoops, and more specifically, college hoops recruiting, is familiar with “G-League Ignite” which was also once known as the G-League Pathway program. It started last fall, with five high school stars – Jalen Green, Jonathan Kuminga, Daishen Nix, Isaiah Todd and Kai Sotto – and recently completed its first full season.

With one year in the books, the program certainly had its benefits and drawbacks. On the positive side, the players did get to train year round, with no NCAA rules restrictions on how much they could be in the gym or work with coaches. They also got to play in the G-League’s “bubble” against grown men. It only helped solidify the draft stock of some of the players, like Green and Kuminga.

There were clearly down sides as well. One, while playing against grown men helped Green and Kuminga, it hurt others, namely Nix and Todd, who went from projected lottery picks to now, on some draft boards, not being selected at all. You think had they gone to the schools they originally committed to (UCLA and Michigan respectively) and quietly gone about their business they would have fallen as far? Fair or not, they were largely exposed playing against the better competition.

And of course there was also the issue of exposure as well. You can criticize college basketball for a lot of things, but exposure ain’t one of them. Heck, Duke and Kentucky play on national TV more from November to April than most NBA teams. Meanwhile the G-League Ignite team was routinely playing in the bubble, in early morning games that – if we’re being honest – few people watched. And at least one player, Green, believed the lack of exposure hurt him.

Probably a good endorsement for going to College pic.twitter.com/S2tzBfgFQh

— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) May 5, 2021

Still, even with the negatives, the program had signed three players prior to last Friday, Jaden Hardy, Michael Foster and Chinese prospect Fanbo Zeng. Then on Friday they made a splash of their own added Scoota Henderson, the top point guard in the high school class of 2022.

The Henderson signing was interesting, because at just 17-years-old, he was touted as the “youngest professional American basketball player ever.” While some reported Henderson was “skipping his senior year” that’s not entirely accurate, since he reclassified and graduated with the class of 2021. Still, because he is only 17, it means that Henderson will spend two years in the program, as opposed to Hardy and Foster, who can enter the NBA Draft next season.

That news was in and of itself interesting, as previously, the Ignite team had been seen as a one-year program. Henderson will now spend two years in it, and it opens the door for other players to sign early. Again though that’s a bit misleading, because at least as of right now, there is no academic component to the Ignite team. So if a player wanted to play beyond one season, he’d have to reclassify up to do it. Others could certainly follow Henderson’s lead. But it’s not as cut and dried as “the G-League can go sign any kid they want.” At least not right now.

Anyway, with the Henderson news there are obvious benefits and drawbacks. The obvious benefit is that, in theory, this kid should be really good two years from now. When you’re 17-years-old, and have two years to work with NBA coaches with no restrictions on practice time, you’d think this kid would be really well prepared to enter the NBA Draft in two years. On the flip side, we’ve seen how hard the transition is for guards who reclassified up in college basketball to have immediate success. Now you’re going up against grown men? It could take some time to get his footing. Plus the whole “exposure” element that the G-League Ignite dealt with last season doesn’t seem like it will change anytime soon.

And because of that exposure, you could argue that the Ignite program didn’t totally take off the way many expected. I’ll admit that when this program was announced a year ago, I figured it would drain college basketball of every elite player, who would choose cash over one year in college hoops. But even last season guys like Cunningham, Evan Mobley, Terrence Clarke and Ziaire Williams all turned the program down, and it’s got to be kind of disappointing that had Henderson not reclassified, only two marquee players from the class of 2021 would’ve chosen the program. Put another way, Gonzaga and Duke each signed as many five-star prospects this season as the G-League did.

Again, I’m not rooting against this league, and who knows, maybe they load up in the class of 2022 (with all the talent its certainly possible). But as Name, Image and Likeness rules come into place, I do wonder if college hoops is still able to retain most of its marquee recruits.

Finally, what does this all mean for college hoops?

I just said it a minute ago, and I’ll admit it again: When all these different alternatives have popped up over the last couple years, I was worried that college hoops would lose most of its marquee talent and relevance. But my opinion has changed on this a bit.

First off, to be clear, I’m not saying it’s good for college hoops when talented players ]never step on campus. And yeah, I wish we had gotten to see Jaden Hardy in college next year, as well as Jalen Green and Jonathan Kuminga this year.

At the same time, did anyone feel like we missed anything by not having those players in college hoops last year? Like yeah, Jalen Green and Jonathan Kuminga are insane talents, and I wish they had played college hoops. But did anyone say, “Well, I was going to watch this game tonight, but since Jonathan Kuminga isn’t playing, I’m out.” Of course not. Heck, you could argue that by losing Nix and Todd, UCLA and Michigan were actually better respectively. No disrespect intended, but UCLA didn’t feel the need to force a one-and-done guy into the lineup, stuck with its vets and went to the Final Four. Michigan replaced Todd with Chaundee Brown in the transfer portal, and the Wolverines ended up in the Elite Eight.

Speaking of which, that last part led me to a realization this off-season: The transfer portal has kind of changed the game in college hoops.

Is it a bummer if a few elite high school players don’t make it to college? Of course. Absolutely. But if we’re being totally honest, how many of those freshmen really impact the sport all that much? For every Jalen Suggs there is a Jalen Johnson, the five-star who didn’t make it to the end of the season at Duke. Or BJ Boston. Or Josh Christopher (remember him?). Or whoever. You know who does impact the game in college hoops though? Juniors and seniors. And the portal has allowed teams to reload in a hurry. Back in the day, it was basically only Kentucky or Duke (via a late five-star commit) who could add talent after the season ended. Now, just about anyone can (as indicated by last week’s full list of transfer portal winners).

And really what I’ve realized is that college basketball fans don’t care how they get talent, just as long as they are in fact talented. Kentucky fans didn’t celebrate any less when Sahvir Wheeler committed to the school this summer because he was an All-SEC guard instead of a five-star McDonald’s All-American. In a lot of ways, it was the opposite. They were fired up, because he already has a track record of getting the job done at the SEC level.

So again, for the 200th and final time this article, I wish all these kids luck. And if they believe that the pro pathway is the best place for them, jump at the opportunity. Make that cash (cash they’ll be able to make in college in a few years).

As for college basketball? It’s going to be just fine going forward.

(For more on this topic, listen to Monday’s Aaron Torres Podcast. You can download here or listen below)