The NBA G-League has decided to raise the stakes a little more beginning in the 2019-20 season by offering $125,000 contracts to a select group of elite players who want to bypass college and get started with their professional careers ahead of the NBA Draft. There is still much to be decided and figured out with this initiative, such as how many contracts will be available and which elite recruits will be offered the contracts, but it is going to present an interesting wrinkle into the upcoming recruiting class and a potential obstacle for college coaches trying to put together their recruiting classes for the 2019 cycle.
Players who turn 18 before Sept. 15 will be eligible. The option with the Select Contract will give prospects an opportunity to get NBA training and a chance to play in the NBA Summer League for a year before entering the draft while also getting paid a decent amount of money. It is an interesting proposition and something I could certainly see several recruits jumping at.
It's a new idea and something that is still being worked out, but nobody really knows right now how recruits will react to it. There are certainly some things that would still make playing in college more appealing. It would give prospects who are only interested in making money a legal alternative to do so, however.
As a note, players can already go directly from high school to the G-League such as with Darius Bazley who opted to go that route instead of going to college only to change his mind and ultimately decide to train privately for a season. The difference with this new wrinkle is that a player going from high school to the G-League under the current setup would only be making about $35,000 for his services and now the "elite" players will get a chance to earn $125,000. It is that bump up in pay that could cause some players to at least think a little harder about the decision.
