Why it makes sense for GG Jackson to reclassify

Last Sunday I broke the news that multiple sources close to GG Jackson told me he was looking to de-commit from North Carolina and reclassify into the 2022 class. The news of the 2023 On3 Consensus No. 1 ranked player was a shock to most and took the college basketball world by storm over the last week.

I put out this information on the heels of Jackson being named the MVP of the NBPA Top 100 Camp. The No. 1 ranked player came into the camp and proved to be a dominating factor in front of NBA scouts and the player’s association, who was hosting the event.

Even with the original plan (read here) of Jackson re-classifying to the 2022 class and going to South Carolina for coach Frank Martin, Jackson has said in interviews about not wanting to re-classify at North Carolina. Sources close to the UNC side of things have told me the UNC coaching staff offered Jackson the opportunity to reclass to 2022; he was uninterested.

There have been interviews where Jackson told media members he was not sure if he was physically ready to play in college yet. However, showcasing what he could do at the NBPA Top 100 camp, being the only player to average a double-double as his team went on to win the camp championship, showed a different story.

So why reclassify?

GG Jackson’s birthday is December 17, 2004. That date makes him eligible for the 2023 NBA draft by 14 days. He would just need to graduate high school a year prior, which means coming out in the 2022 high school class.

On the periphery, there are many reasons for getting into the 2023 NBA draft. One of the main reasons is that it gets him to his second contract when the players start making real money earlier.

However, a deeper look gives a more telling reason why the early jump makes sense.

The NBA and the NBPA agreed to their last Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) in 2017. The NBA’s CBA is when the league and the player’s union meet and agree upon regulation aspects of worker’s compensation and worker’s rights. The 2017 CBA update will expire after the 2023-24 NBA season.

The league and the union will have a lot of topics to discuss; however, regarding Jackson, one of the discussion points will be any adjustments to the rookie pay scale. The feel from intel gathered around Jackson’s situation is it would be wise to get Jackson into the 2023 draft and not wait until 2024, after the CBA negotiations.