STRAIGHT CASH HOMIE.
The allure of winning a National Championship in college isn’t as great as it use to be.
These kids want to get to the pros as soon as possible so they can get paid, Jalen Green will be the first of many who take this route.
California high school star Jalen Green, the No. 1 prospect in the 2020 ESPN 100, is making the leap to a reshaped NBA professional pathway program, a G League initiative that will pay elite prospects $500,000-plus and provide a one-year development program outside of the minor-league’s traditional team structure, sources told ESPN.
Green is committing to become part of a year-long developmental program with G League oversight that will include professional coaching, top prospects and veteran players who will combine training and exhibition game competitions against the likes of G League teams, foreign national teams and NBA academies throughout the world, sources said.
The season could include 10 to 12 games against G League teams that wouldn’t count in standings, sources said, but the primary objective will be assimilation and growth into the NBA on several levels — from playing to the teaching of life skills.
The salary bonus structure in Green’s contract, for example, is expected to include financial incentives for games played, completing community events and life skills programs coordinated by the G League’s oversight of the program, sources said.
The NBA’s plan is to stock this team with veteran pro players who’d be willing to balance mentorship of Green and other prospects with the personal opportunities that might emerge because of the intense NBA scouting exposure that will come with these teams.
I don’t see any downside in this for Green, just upside.
Flip the page for his mixtape and who else will be joining him in G-League.