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I believe NBA should outsource G-League and make it truly the AAA farm league of the NBA. Expand rosters to 25 players, 15 for the NBA franchise, 10 for the G-League franchise. All players in G-League are therefore owned and paid by NBA teams. Expand draft by 2 rounds, scrap the G-League draft, expand rookie scales right into the 4th round and enter the rule that undrafted rookies have to sign for the minimum.

Re-work the idea of two-way contracts: all players on a rookie contract can be freely sent up or down, but if these players are in the G-League, they get only a percentage of their contract. In their first year they are paid 10% of their contract, the next year they get 20% while they are down, then 30% and 40%. After 4 years these players can still sign a two-way contract but they will have to get 50% of their contract value if they are sent down, plus they will have to go through the waivers so any NBA team can pick-up these players before they are forced to play in a farm league. If a player does not sign a two-way contract and he is sent down after passing the waivers, he still needs to be paid 100% of his contract money. This system should encourage players to work to stay in the league even when they are in the G-League and they are greatly rewarded when they are sent up. They also get paid at least 80k with certainty that if they survive to the next year, they get extra 80k per season.

And this system encourage teams to actually invest into developing talented young players and actually care about them while they would play some team basketbal in the farm league as they would not just trying to play for personal stats to create an interest from an NBA team as it is now. It should also encourage more European players to come to play to the North America. This should cost something like 3 to 5 million annually per team, but I think this cost should be worth it in the long run, especially as the better product should immediately higher up the interest in G-League. Take an example in NHL’s AHL. To make it easier to accept it for teams, higher up luxury tax level a bit to cover these additional costs.

And age limit? The baseball rule would probably work fine. The players that want it, can go to the NBA immediately out of HS. The other option is go to college, but for full 4 years with an option to declare earlier after 2 years. College should not be only about playing basketball, the real aim should be to study as well.

Watched some of the games this year, I think the quality of play is pretty good.

Attendance is still an issue at many games though, they really need to move some of these teams to a mid-market or better market than where they're at. At least on paper it would seem if you had an average league wide attendance of 5,000 or so, these players would be making more.

G league ... i was like... one team play few minutes from work. so i was like ... why dont i start going there and watch some?
then i realized .. tickets are damn expensive for such "crap" league

the attendance is bad cause of the price. Id keep the money and use it to watch the real NBA

bulls4ever wrote:G league ... i was like... one team play few minutes from work. so i was like ... why dont i start going there and watch some?
then i realized .. tickets are damn expensive for such "crap" league

the attendance is bad cause of the price. Id keep the money and use it to watch the real NBA

SLC Stars are only $5, $10, $15 and $25, and like $75 for courtside. Most other teams are similarly priced.

I looked at the Windy City Bulls prices and honestly that's the most expensive I've seen in the G League for tickets by far. Wow.

Yea it all comes down to not making kids that don't want to be NCAA slaves earn a living in the states without going overseas. If the G League is going to be successful it will take a bite out of March Madness and blame all the NCAA scandals for doing it.

pickIBL wrote:Yea it all comes down to not making kids that don't want to be NCAA slaves earn a living in the states without going overseas. If the G League is going to be successful it will take a bite out of March Madness and blame all the NCAA scandals for doing it.

Wouldn't be that hard if they'd pay their guys in the 40K-60K range instead of the $19,000 or $26,000 a year currently.

Why do HS need to make $40k to $60k? If they play in G League they can get sponsorship money. In college they aren't paid AND cannot get sponsorship money.

Agents and NBA just need to promote G league more as a viable alternative, which it is. If more players did G league vs one-and-done, could do wonders as far as scouting for draft (high schoolers who go to G league still must enter NBA draft when eligible). Won't need a combine for guys with a G league season against NBA-types under their belt!

Also, must keep in mind that no farm teams are paid by major league teams. They are their own separate organizations, just affiliated with a pro team, although some affiliates are owned by their NBA club or NBA owners.

APettyJ wrote:Why do HS need to make $40k to $60k? If they play in G League they can get sponsorship money. In college they aren't paid AND cannot get sponsorship money.

Agents and NBA just need to promote G league more as a viable alternative, which it is. If more players did G league vs one-and-done, could do wonders as far as scouting for draft (high schoolers who go to G league still must enter NBA draft when eligible). Won't need a combine for guys with a G league season against NBA-types under their belt!

Because G Leaguers should be paid more like how European players are paid and not mediocre near minimum wage basketball job with a few "OK" benefits?

The point is, if these guys can get paid by runners for shoe companies in college, why wouldn't those same shoe companies cut out the middleman and just pay the athletes directly in the G-League. Again, the wage these guys are getting is for ONE year. It's the equivalent of 52K for a full year as they don't even work the full year. Also, if they want, they can sign with any league around the world (in season) and get paid more money.

The options from the G-League are actually excellent if you prove you can play.

The G-League is the best thing to happen to the NBA in quite awhile. We're seeing at increasing rates every year, players coming from it and earning meaningful roles on teams.

It just shows how much talent is out there of players who can actually play and contribute to NBA level basketball. The league should consider some of the suggestions of the original post, along with expanding by two teams and cutting the regular season to about 70 games (and potentially changing the post season format to better incorporate more teams in the league).

The NBA is ascending in so many ways, now seems like a good time to really expand and evolve to what the league should/would look like for the next 10-20 years as it becomes more and more popular. If done correctly, they could position themselves to really compete with the NFL (assuming some people get over their biases about the NBA and its players -- which is another conversation altogether).

What percentage of G-League players will be playing in NBA Summer leagues?

Quality of play is good and stadium attendance is pretty solid too. Been to a few games myself and was impressed.

JazzUte88 wrote:Watched some of the games this year, I think the quality of play is pretty good.

Attendance is still an issue at many games though, they really need to move some of these teams to a mid-market or better market than where they're at. At least on paper it would seem if you had an average league wide attendance of 5,000 or so, these players would be making more.

Exactly. I liked the idea of having teams in smaller cities to begin with and still like having them there, but maybe more showcases at the mid market or big market level.

cdubbz wrote:

JazzUte88 wrote:Watched some of the games this year, I think the quality of play is pretty good.

Attendance is still an issue at many games though, they really need to move some of these teams to a mid-market or better market than where they're at. At least on paper it would seem if you had an average league wide attendance of 5,000 or so, these players would be making more.

Exactly. I liked the idea of having teams in smaller cities to begin with and still like having them there, but maybe more showcases at the mid market or big market level.

I like bringing attention to the smaller markets.
Showcasing in larger market does seem like a great way to expand.

I'd like to see 5-6,000 attendees, per Venue, in the G League.