Jalen Green and Isaiah Todd are both 5-star High School recruits who recently announced that they will forgo college, and join the NBA G-League instead.
Since the NBA implemented the “one and done” rule, top prospects have been going to the top colleges. However, in recent years, some top recruits are skipping college to go pro.
Most of these prospects went overseas. Now, Green and Todd decided to stay in the United States and sign a contract with the NBA G-League.
It is reported that Jalen Green will make $500k for 1 year in the G-League. It is also reported by ESPN that with shoe deals, Jalen could easily be making 7 figures. It has not been reported how much Isaiah Todd will make in the G-League.
This year, James Wiseman got suspended for 12 games for illegal recruiting. Instead of serving the suspension, he decided to drop out of college and train for the NBA on his own.
This means that the top ranked player for the class of 2019 and the class of 2020 would only play a combined 3 games in the college.
In 2017 there was only one Top 100 recruit that skipped college. In 2018, there were two Top 100 recruits who skipped college. In 2019 there were three Top 100 recruits who skipped college. (4 if you include James Wiseman).
Now we are in 2020 and five Top 100 recruits decided to skip college to prepare for the NBA draft.
If the NCAA doesn’t do something about this quick, they will continue to lose top recruits and revenue. The number of kids who skip college will continue to grow fast.
All of the top players want to get to the NBA. However, some of them feel that the G-League is the best option for them and I don’t blame them.
They should take the money, as it is a great opportunity for these top recruits to play the game they love and make money while doing it at a young age. Do not be surprised if in the coming years, most top ranked recruits take this route.
Photo: Bloomberg
