What's the point of the G-League

[SomeBunghole]

In 2k you can use it to bring a 68 level to a 81 level in 2 seasons if you do it right

Right. If there is one thing I could change about the NBA, I'd make it more like a video game.

[LockoutSeason]

Why do people hate on development/minor leagues? You do realize that these guys aren’t supposed to be as good as the pros?

[ejftw]

What do you mean? All 30 teams now have their own G League affiliate, how much more exclusive do you want it to be?

Teams owning a G League side in itself doesn't make it exclusive. Making it something similar to how MLS does it with the Next Pro League would be a better way to go.

I mean, if the Stockton Kings sign someone and develop him or he ends up being a gem that fell through the cracks, the Wizards being able to swoop them right away takes away from any sort of exclusivity. While in Next Pro, if Los Dos have a player that Inter Miami want, they can't just sign him, they would need to make an offer to Los Dos for said player.

I mean... They run the exact same offense and defense as the NBA parent club.

And its not like there is no protection for G League, they're just called two-way contracts, each NBA team gets 3 of them. There are also exhibit 10 contracts that keep prospects in the pipeline for 60 days.

What you're describing limits the players potential. Keep in mind, the NBA is a player driven league. If the Kings only see a player as a G League prospect and the Wizards see him as a NBA player, by all means that guy should go get his money and opportunity.

I mean, as much as it may take away from player movement, it takes away from the true farm system and exclusivity I initially mentioned.

Though, I'm pretty sure those in Next Pro and A-AA-AAA prefer having a true farm system versus what the G League provides

[ReggiesKnicks]

There are reasons for the G-League aside from players.

General Manager and Scouting development
Coaching development
Player skill development
Offense and Defensive Scheme development

[JujitsuFlip]

Teams owning a G League side in itself doesn't make it exclusive. Making it something similar to how MLS does it with the Next Pro League would be a better way to go.

I mean, if the Stockton Kings sign someone and develop him or he ends up being a gem that fell through the cracks, the Wizards being able to swoop them right away takes away from any sort of exclusivity. While in Next Pro, if Los Dos have a player that Inter Miami want, they can't just sign him, they would need to make an offer to Los Dos for said player.

I mean... They run the exact same offense and defense as the NBA parent club.

And its not like there is no protection for G League, they're just called two-way contracts, each NBA team gets 3 of them. There are also exhibit 10 contracts that keep prospects in the pipeline for 60 days.

What you're describing limits the players potential. Keep in mind, the NBA is a player driven league. If the Kings only see a player as a G League prospect and the Wizards see him as a NBA player, by all means that guy should go get his money and opportunity.

I mean, as much as it may take away from player movement, it takes away from the true farm system and exclusivity I initially mentioned.

Though, I'm pretty sure those in Next Pro and A-AA-AAA prefer having a true farm system versus what the G League provides

It doesn't though, it just makes the NBA parent club be intelligent about who they protect with two-way contracts, exhibit 10 contracts, and rare now days but retaining draft rights.

You're saying every player on a G League affiliate should be protected, that's silly.

Plus guys can be sent down who are on standard NBA contracts too.

The G League does exactly what it was designed to do.

[hauntedcomputer]

It's where you develop role players. Lots of side benefits-- expand pro hoops footprints into 30 different cities, have injury replacements ready, give coaches and staff and front office experience, grow the sport. Not a money maker but a great investment.

From a player perspective, more jobs, more chances to hang around, places to expand your game or find your role, and helped pressure NCAA into NIL agreements-- more money in the pool for all players.

[ChiTownHero1992]

Right now its wasted potential...the NBA needs to turn it in to a true minor league system like MLB and NHL. Every franchise gets 30 contracts, but only 15 can be on the NBA level team at a time. You can move players up / down throughout the season. It would make things much better and likely open doors for many prospects and find more hidden talent.

[Clav]

All three guys who finished top 3 in MVP voting i doubt will ever be contributors in the NBA.

What is the real point of the g league? I see some star player practice there back from injury but that's about it.

In 2k you can use it to bring a 68 level to a 81 level in 2 seasons if you do it right

Explain to me because I think I am missing the boat somewhere. It seems the minor leagues were better back in the day somehow.

The league is a lot more than a few random stars practicing there and it surely not the NBA-2k videogame that you're playing. I'm one of the GL Forum Moderators and you have not stopped by.... with our low-traffic, I would know if you posted


Overall, yes, it is lesser basketball quality than the NBA, and surely GL teams may not beat other professional leagues on a nightly basis, but those teams do have decent basketball to watch if you give it a chance. It's a measuring stick for NBA players because the pace and flow of game is relatively similar.

The function right now is for teams to develop players, find potential prospects, give another monetary avenue for future players, and overall throw it all in, see what happens. Occassionally a player really surprises and gets a standard NBA contract out of it. I think it fulfills its purpose pretty well in that regard, scouts and teams pay attention to the GL a lot more than us primary NBA followers.

Also of note, this is the first year that every team in the NBA has an affiliate in the GL with the addition of Phoenix and Portland most recently. The NBA is in a better place more than ever with the subsidiary league, though it isn't a true promotion-relegation system, the movement of players in the GL brings a lot of parity each night, and the basketball competition is generally pretty even across the league.

There are definitely areas to improve in terms of the GL overall, and it's not a perfect answer. I'm kind of an oddball because I enjoy GL play. But just naturally I focus on the positives more than negatives, it's not a league I get mood swings from, I genuinely just enjoy watching players that I may not have known about before, and it's decent basketball, and it's mostly available for free.

[ejftw]

I mean... They run the exact same offense and defense as the NBA parent club.

And its not like there is no protection for G League, they're just called two-way contracts, each NBA team gets 3 of them. There are also exhibit 10 contracts that keep prospects in the pipeline for 60 days.

What you're describing limits the players potential. Keep in mind, the NBA is a player driven league. If the Kings only see a player as a G League prospect and the Wizards see him as a NBA player, by all means that guy should go get his money and opportunity.

I mean, as much as it may take away from player movement, it takes away from the true farm system and exclusivity I initially mentioned.

Though, I'm pretty sure those in Next Pro and A-AA-AAA prefer having a true farm system versus what the G League provides

It doesn't though, it just makes the NBA parent club be intelligent about who they protect with two-way contracts, exhibit 10 contracts, and rare now days but retaining draft rights.

You're saying every player on a G League affiliate should be protected, that's silly.

Plus guys can be sent down who are on standard NBA contracts too.

The G League does exactly what it was designed to do.

Correct, I want it to be utilized as a true farm system/youth academy type of setting versus just a lesser league being subsidized by the NBA franchise owners because the league wants to monopolize any sort of (legit) professional (or semi) basketball.

I get that's not everyone's cup of tea, but, just the way it works for MLB and MLS in the states (not to mention youth academies in every football league across the globe and I'm sure FIBA teams have it as well, not as well versed in them), I just feel it would pay dividends

[Lalouie]

it's sole use currently is to give players pt without wasting the parent team's time, which usually means 2nd rounders an undrafted players

[Mr B]

Brandon Williams has been huge for the Mavs since Kyrie got injured. If he hadn’t had the experience in the G League I doubt he would have been able to step right in late in the season for the Mavs and be a solid contributor like he was.

[MrBigShot]

Underground path to a shot at the NBA. Dominate in the gleague and you may have a shot at getting a 10 day contract

[Godymas]

To spread the joy of basketball everywhere?

A G League game is probably more entertaining than a college game and cost $20 for good seats

Some notable guys have come up in the G League. Fred Vanvleet, Khris Middleton, Alex Caruso

[JujitsuFlip]

Right now its wasted potential...the NBA needs to turn it in to a true minor league system like MLB and NHL. Every franchise gets 30 contracts, but only 15 can be on the NBA level team at a time. You can move players up / down throughout the season. It would make things much better and likely open doors for many prospects and find more hidden talent.

I can't imagine the amount of cap hell that would cause.

[JujitsuFlip]

I mean, as much as it may take away from player movement, it takes away from the true farm system and exclusivity I initially mentioned.

Though, I'm pretty sure those in Next Pro and A-AA-AAA prefer having a true farm system versus what the G League provides

It doesn't though, it just makes the NBA parent club be intelligent about who they protect with two-way contracts, exhibit 10 contracts, and rare now days but retaining draft rights.

You're saying every player on a G League affiliate should be protected, that's silly.

Plus guys can be sent down who are on standard NBA contracts too.

The G League does exactly what it was designed to do.

Correct, I want it to be utilized as a true farm system/youth academy type of setting versus just a lesser league being subsidized by the NBA franchise owners because the league wants to monopolize any sort of (legit) professional (or semi) basketball.

I get that's not everyone's cup of tea, but, just the way it works for MLB and MLS in the states (not to mention youth academies in every football league across the globe and I'm sure FIBA teams have it as well, not as well versed in them), I just feel it would pay dividends

It's just dumb because only 5 guys can be on the floor at once.

You're literally handcuffing the talent with your idea. If a player is with a team and the franchise sees them solely as a prospect, they have no avenue to the NBA.

All this would do is push more players overseas to get paid and get a real league opportunity.

It's not broken right now, no reason to mess with it.

[ejftw]

It doesn't though, it just makes the NBA parent club be intelligent about who they protect with two-way contracts, exhibit 10 contracts, and rare now days but retaining draft rights.

You're saying every player on a G League affiliate should be protected, that's silly.

Plus guys can be sent down who are on standard NBA contracts too.

The G League does exactly what it was designed to do.

Correct, I want it to be utilized as a true farm system/youth academy type of setting versus just a lesser league being subsidized by the NBA franchise owners because the league wants to monopolize any sort of (legit) professional (or semi) basketball.

I get that's not everyone's cup of tea, but, just the way it works for MLB and MLS in the states (not to mention youth academies in every football league across the globe and I'm sure FIBA teams have it as well, not as well versed in them), I just feel it would pay dividends

It's just dumb because only 5 guys can be on the floor at once.

You're literally handcuffing the talent with your idea. If a player is with a team and the franchise sees them solely as a prospect, they have no avenue to the NBA.

All this would do is push more players overseas to get paid and get a real league opportunity.

It's not broken right now, no reason to mess with it.

Ah yes, the beautiful throwing of ad hominems when there is nothing much left to say.

And it's quite amazing, I didn't know that A/AA/AAA or NextPro/Youth Academies was handcuffing talent. Because, you know, trades don't happen. Buy outs don't happen. Players don't hit free agency.

[JujitsuFlip]

Correct, I want it to be utilized as a true farm system/youth academy type of setting versus just a lesser league being subsidized by the NBA franchise owners because the league wants to monopolize any sort of (legit) professional (or semi) basketball.

I get that's not everyone's cup of tea, but, just the way it works for MLB and MLS in the states (not to mention youth academies in every football league across the globe and I'm sure FIBA teams have it as well, not as well versed in them), I just feel it would pay dividends

It's just dumb because only 5 guys can be on the floor at once.

You're literally handcuffing the talent with your idea. If a player is with a team and the franchise sees them solely as a prospect, they have no avenue to the NBA.

All this would do is push more players overseas to get paid and get a real league opportunity.

It's not broken right now, no reason to mess with it.

Ah yes, the beautiful throwing of ad hominems when there is nothing much left to say.

And it's quite amazing, I didn't know that A/AA/AAA or NextPro/Youth Academies was handcuffing talent. Because, you know, trades don't happen. Buy outs don't happen. Players don't hit free agency.

You're speaking about 2 inferior leagues............

Yeah, let's copy the underwater basket weaving professional league next Lmfao

[TheProfessor]

It was suppose to be a way to give players another way to enter the league outside the NCAA, but NIL deals basically killed it.

[ChiTownHero1992]

Right now its wasted potential...the NBA needs to turn it in to a true minor league system like MLB and NHL. Every franchise gets 30 contracts, but only 15 can be on the NBA level team at a time. You can move players up / down throughout the season. It would make things much better and likely open doors for many prospects and find more hidden talent.

I can't imagine the amount of cap hell that would cause.

NHL does it just fine, Salary Floor and Hard Cap at the top level that all teams have to stay within, then a salary cap for the Minors. Some contracts can be One-Way (top level players), some can be Two-Way (guys who will bump back and forth). Its actually quite simple in the NHL and should be the model for NBA. Basically you'd have as follows, salary cap is currently 140M and G-Leaguers make a flat rate $40,500 so lets just say a 1-2 Million Minor league salary:

120M - 10 - Full Time NBA Contracts (non-rookie, rotational guys in the NBA, can only go to Minors by clearing waivers)
20M - 10 - Two-Way Contracts (guys on the verge of NBA rosters and Rookie Contracts)
1-2M - 10 - Minor League Contracts (guys likely never to make it but each franchise is trying to groom/test, they can be called up but if pushed back down to Minor's have to clear waivers)

They already basically do this but only control maybe 3-5 G-Leaguers in their franchise rather than all 12-15 players. Trading would become "slightly" harder, but that's because you'd have to match contracts slightly more, you couldn't just trade 5 minor leaguers for one Full-NBA contract and "blow it up" persay as you'd have to have the right amount of contracts and reach the salary floor (this helps with tanking slightly).

[JujitsuFlip]

Right now its wasted potential...the NBA needs to turn it in to a true minor league system like MLB and NHL. Every franchise gets 30 contracts, but only 15 can be on the NBA level team at a time. You can move players up / down throughout the season. It would make things much better and likely open doors for many prospects and find more hidden talent.

I can't imagine the amount of cap hell that would cause.

NHL does it just fine, Salary Floor and Hard Cap at the top level that all teams have to stay within, then a salary cap for the Minors. Some contracts can be One-Way (top level players), some can be Two-Way (guys who will bump back and forth). Its actually quite simple in the NHL and should be the model for NBA. Basically you'd have as follows, salary cap is currently 140M and G-Leaguers make a flat rate $40,500 so lets just say a 1-2 Million Minor league salary:

120M - 10 - Full Time NBA Contracts (non-rookie, rotational guys in the NBA, can only go to Minors by clearing waivers)
20M - 10 - Two-Way Contracts (guys on the verge of NBA rosters and Rookie Contracts)
1-2M - 10 - Minor League Contracts (guys likely never to make it but each franchise is trying to groom/test, they can be called up but if pushed back down to Minor's have to clear waivers)

They already basically do this but only control maybe 3-5 G-Leaguers in their franchise rather than all 12-15 players. Trading would become "slightly" harder, but that's because you'd have to match contracts slightly more, you couldn't just trade 5 minor leaguers for one Full-NBA contract and "blow it up" persay as you'd have to have the right amount of contracts and reach the salary floor (this helps with tanking slightly).

I just don't think it's feasible bc the NBPA will never agree to a hard cap.

We have teams WAY above the $140 million cap just with a couple guys, currently.