The NBA is shutting down the G League Ignite following the conclusion of the 2023-24 season, citing the NCAA’s Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) policy and the advent of collectives and the transfer portal” as its primary reasons, the league announced Thursday.
NBA G League President Shareef Abdur-Rahim said in a statement:
“Four years ago, we started Ignite to fill a void in the basketball landscape, and I’m proud of the contributions we were able to make to that ecosystem. With the changing environment across youth and collegiate basketball, now is the right time to take this step.
NBA G League Ignite, the league’s owned-and-operated team focused on developing NBA prospects, is concluding its final season, NBA G League President Shareef Abdur-Rahim announced today.
The decision to end the program comes amid the changing basketball landscape, including the…
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) March 21, 2024
“I want to extend my sincere gratitude to general manager Anthony McClish, head coach Jason Hart, and their staff and to each player who wore an Ignite jersey. As ever, the G League’s commitment to developing top NBA talent and helping players achieve their NBA dreams is unwavering.”
Furthermore, NBA commissioner Adam Silver suggested this could happen during last month’s NBA All-Star Weekend, saying then that the league was “reassessing” the Ignite program.
The G League team was established by the NBA to give players who aren’t yet eligible for the draft — and those who didn’t want to go to college — a chance to play professional basketball and prepare for the draft as part of a developmental league.
G League Ignite offered players salaries of up to $500,000, helped develop NBA prospects
At the time the Ignite team was launched in April 2016, college athletes weren’t being paid. According to Spotrac, the team offered prospects salaries of up to $500,000.
Now, the NCAA’s NIL policy has essentially made the G League Ignite not as appealing to the types of high school recruits and young stars the Ignite target each year.
“Some of those same players that didn’t want to be one-and-done players because they felt it was unfair and they wanted the ability to not just earn a living playing basketball but to do commercial deals that weren’t available to them in college … now all those same abilities have become available to them,” Silver said last month.
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