The G League Wants To Steal As Many Kids As Possible From College Hoops So They Can Create Their Own Division

Advertisement

So I blogged earlier today about how the G League is already starting to recruit the class of 2021 and this is exactly why. They want to create their own division within the G League. I've talked about this with some other people and ultimately it comes down to this. How can the NBA make money by creating this youth system in a way? There are for sure benefits on being able to control the social media - no one is better at marketing their own players like the NBA - to promote these guys. There are benefits to just putting them in an NBA system, but how do you make money off of that? Right now it's not set up to do that. 

That's where a Nike EYBL system can somewhat come in here. Nike is a sponsor of the G League, so they are familiar with this sort of thing. Those who like to knock AAU, aren't really aware of what the EYBL does and how it's set up. They run their own league, highlighted by the Peach Jam, but there are other tournaments and standings and stats, etc. That's what this is essentially going to be based on. 

This is the fear for college hoops. If they are able to get enough people to skip college in order to create a division of a few teams, guess what? There isn't any talent in college hoops. I know we watch for laundry. I know that all matters. But if that changes and we're now losing 30ish incoming freshmen? Yeah, that's a problem. Again, this is a long way away, but it's showing that the G League is trying to accomplish something and they don't give a damn what the NCAA thinks. 

If they are able to make it work, this will be the biggest story to college hoops that I can remember. I've said it before but we won't know if this all will work for a few years down the road. But right now? Yeah, it's a major story.