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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – AUGUST 18: Team Zion’s Jalen Green # 14 plunges before the game against Team … [+]
Jalen Green, the best uncommitted high school basketball prospect in the United States, intends to play in the NBA G League next season instead of spending a year on a college campus, sources said.
The 6-foot-5-inch Green, an explosive and charismatic combo from Napa Valley (CA) prolific coaching, is expected to earn a low six-figure salary in the G League, and a source said he told Forbes SportsMoney. on Tuesday it could be as much as $ 250,000. And that would not include any footwear agreements that you sign.
“He was leaning towards becoming a professional and with the foreign market climate, I imagine that means he will go to the G League,” said a college coach involved in recruiting Green before Green’s scheduled announcement at 1 p.m. E.T. Thursday.
ESPN reported earlier Thursday that Green was heading to the G-League.
Green, ranked as the No. 3 prospect in the Class of 2020 by 247Sports.com, was considered to be considering Auburn and Memphis as his best college options. He has also visited the state of Fresno, Oregon and USC.
The NBA announced in October 2018 that starting in the 2019-20 season, select players could earn $ 125,000 to play in the G League for one year before entering the NBA Draft.
Playing in the G-League instead of the Australian NBL, which this year featured American high school stars LaMelo Ball and R.J. Hampton – Green would not have to leave the country during the coronavirus pandemic. Both Ball and Hampton are lottery picks projected in this year’s NBA Draft, which may not occur until August or September.
Green, who turned 18 in February, is the No. 2 pick projected in Draft 2021, according to ESPN.com. He was selected this season for the trifecta of the best all-star games, the McDonald’s All-American Game, the Jordan Brand Classic and the Nike Hoop Summit. They were all canceled due to the pandemic.
Green has said several times that he wants to go to college instead of being a professional.
“I am thinking about college and only college,” he said in January at the Hoophall Classic in Springfield, Massachusetts. “I’ve been [hearing] I’m going to be a professional, this and that, no, that’s not the case. I am going to go to college.”
Green said high school players who choose to be professionals do so “if they want to chase money,” and instead want to play in the NCAA Tournament. “I want to play on a big stage,” he said.
Only a couple of players have planned to go straight from high school to the G-League, including the longtime engagement of Syracuse, Darius Bazley in 2018, and Latavious Williams in 2009.
Bazley, who ultimately decided not to go to League G and instead did an internship with New Balance, became the 23rd pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, averaging 4.5 points and 3.7 rebounds for the Oklahoma City Thunder before that the season be suspended.
In League G, Green will compete against adult men in their 20s and 30s, which would be more physically challenging. If you have a six-figure salary as expected, it could also become a target for older players who don’t make nearly as much. The average G League salary is $ 35,000.
“I’m not going to say it’s more physical than the NBA, but I feel like it’s tough in League G because everyone is trying to get to the next level,” Fuquan Edwin, who plays for Toronto Raptors development affiliate. Raptors 905 he told me in 2018 for The New York Times
Green could expose himself a bit by playing against adult men in the G-League, but he could also excel and impress decision-makers in the NBA with his top-flight athleticism and his game across the court.
“There are many different ways to become a professional basketball player,” ESPN draft guru Jonathan Givony told NJ Advance Media. “You can go to League G, you can play professionally abroad, you can go to university.”
