Professor Chaos
October 18th, 2018, 03:53 PM
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/25015812/g-league-offer-professional-path-elite-prospects-not-wanting-go-one-done-route-ncaa
As part of a newly formed professional path starting in the summer of 2019, the G League will offer "Select Contracts" worth $125,000 to elite prospects who are at least 18 years old but not yet eligible for the NBA draft.
The G League will target recent or would-be high school graduates who otherwise would have likely spent just one season playing college basketball, enticing them not only with a six-figure salary but also the opportunity to benefit from NBA infrastructure, as well as a bevy of off-court development programs "geared toward facilitating and accelerating their transition to the pro game," league president Malcolm Turner told ESPN.
Without the restrictions of the NCAA's amateurism rules, players will also be free to hire agents, profit off their likenesses and pursue marketing deals from sneaker companies and the like, which could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in endorsement opportunities to top prospects.
As a big college basketball fan who is lukewarm when it comes to the NBA I love this idea. Quit pretending college athletics is something it isn't to these guys. I think it'll obviously be good for the elite prospects since they'll have a choice now to play quasi-professionally in the US until they're 19 or get the free college education. I think it'll be good for the college game in the long run as well to give the opportunities to the guys who want to be there (or need to be there because they're not good enough to get a G-league offer).
As part of a newly formed professional path starting in the summer of 2019, the G League will offer "Select Contracts" worth $125,000 to elite prospects who are at least 18 years old but not yet eligible for the NBA draft.
The G League will target recent or would-be high school graduates who otherwise would have likely spent just one season playing college basketball, enticing them not only with a six-figure salary but also the opportunity to benefit from NBA infrastructure, as well as a bevy of off-court development programs "geared toward facilitating and accelerating their transition to the pro game," league president Malcolm Turner told ESPN.
Without the restrictions of the NCAA's amateurism rules, players will also be free to hire agents, profit off their likenesses and pursue marketing deals from sneaker companies and the like, which could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in endorsement opportunities to top prospects.
As a big college basketball fan who is lukewarm when it comes to the NBA I love this idea. Quit pretending college athletics is something it isn't to these guys. I think it'll obviously be good for the elite prospects since they'll have a choice now to play quasi-professionally in the US until they're 19 or get the free college education. I think it'll be good for the college game in the long run as well to give the opportunities to the guys who want to be there (or need to be there because they're not good enough to get a G-league offer).