The NBA confirmed in a press release that it will eliminate G League Ignite at the end of the season on March 28. The news should not be surprising. Commissioner Adam Silver previously announced that the league was “in the process of re-evaluating” the existence of the Ignite at last month’s All-Star Weekend. “I’m not sure what the future of Team Ignite is because before I felt there was a hole in the market that we were filling,” Silver had said. “Now my focus is on the early development of those players.”
According to Charania, the program was created as an alternative to college for top pre-draft eligible prospects at a time when college players could not be compensated. However, changes to the way the NCAA operates, particularly the name, image and likeness (NIL) policy and the transfer portal, have made the Ignite more or less an unnecessary luxury.
According to The Athletic’s John Hollinger, several NBA teams had questions about why the league was spending money on the Ignite, as well as the program’s ultimate goal. The Ignite has produced four top-10 picks — Jalen Green, Jonathan Kuminga, Dyson Daniels and Scoot Henderson — and has had 10 players drafted over the past three seasons. A pair of current Ignite players, Ron Holland and Matas Buzelis, are slated for lottery picks in the upcoming draft, according to ESPN’s big tip. After going just 11-21 last regular season, the Ignite are the worst team in the NBAGL in ’23/24, with a 2-28 regular season record.
2024-03-21 23:58:48
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