NIL is killing the G League Ignite and Kentucky is thriving

The reports of college basketball’s death were greatly exaggerated. It’s been almost five years since the NBA announced a new path to the professional ranks with the creation of the G League Ignite program. It’s now on the verge of being extinguished.

Throughout the John Calipari era there have been many changes to the sport that have threatened the talent pools where Kentucky harvested its talent. It started with the threat of eliminating the NBA Draft age requirement. The most recent wrinkle is the transfer portal, but for a time, the G League Ignite was seen by some as the next evolution in basketball development.

What made the G League Ignite different is that it gave players a chance to earn money for a year before entering the draft. Instead of playing other college basketball teams on a big stage, their team of 18-year-olds played a couple dozen games against grown men in tiny, half-empty venues.

The financial aspect of G League Ignite enticed top prospects. Jalen Green, Jonathan Kuminga, and Scoot Henderson are the most noteworthy alumni. Even though it worked well enough to get them NBA deals, high school kids aren’t lining up to follow in their footsteps.

Why is the Ignite team failing? Because college athletes now get the financial benefits with NIL and play on a much bigger stage within a decades-old infrastructure. Adam Silver is not anticipating the G League Ignite to be around for much longer.

“I think given that that’s happened, I think we are in the process of reassessing Team Ignite,” Silver said during  NBA All-Star weekend in Indianapolis. “Now some of those same players who didn’t want to be one-and-done players because they felt it was unfair and they wanted the ability not just to earn a living playing basketball but to do commercial deals that weren’t available to them at college, to hire professional agents, an opportunity that wasn’t available to them at college – all of those same opportunities have become available to them [in college basketball].

“I’m not sure what the future of Team Ignite will be. Because before there was a hole in the marketplace that we thought we were filling before doing that, and now my focus is turning to earlier development of those players.”

This year Team Ignite is 6-31 with its top-billed player, Ron Holland, sidelined for the rest of the season with an injury.

Kentucky Thriving in Other Alternative League

While the G League Ignite is on life support, another basketball startup is hitting its stride. Overtime Elite was created in 2021 and is headquartered in Atlanta. Rather than simply providing an alternative to the college route, it’s a prep academy that can direct players to the collegiate or professional ranks.

An 8-team league with an Amazon Prime TV deal, OTE recruited the Thompson Twins to provide a proof of concept. Each was taken in the top five of the 2023 NBA Draft.

There’s also a route that allows players to be paid a salary through NIL and maintain their collegiate eligibility. It seems to be going well for Rob Dillingham, who’s well on his way to the NBA Draft Lottery after a season at Kentucky. Calipari also brought Jordan Burks from OTE and signed Somto Cyril for the 2024 class.

The G League Ignite was supposed to take players away from Kentucky. While it flames out, Calipari has turned the Ignite’s greatest competition into a recruiting base. Coach Cal is not batting 1.000 during his time at Kentucky, but he’s evolved with the game to withstand its changes.