The program's previous maximum salary of $125,000 was not enough to attract high-level talentGETTY IMAGES
The NBA G League, "armed with a bigger checkbook than in years past," has "suddenly emerged as a disruptive force for Duke, Kentucky and other big programs that rely on one-and-done talent who are all trying to lure the very best high-schoolers," according to Laine Higgins of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. G League President Shareef Abdur-Rahim said that after the first year of the program, the league "identified some problems to work out," including the fact that it "wasn’t offering enough money." Higgins notes the program’s maximum salary of $125,000 "wasn’t enough to persuade kids to turn down a college scholarship or a mid-six figure salary offer from a foreign league, such as Australia’s National Basketball League." There also were "broad concerns about the G League’s allocation process, which gives players little say in where or for what team they’ll play." Abdur-Rahim said that the G League’s select team "does not have a roster minimum and that he would keep it going even in years when only one high-schooler goes pro." Higgins notes a "big selling point of the reimagined professional pathway program is that players will receive a scholarship to take online courses at Arizona State University that is good for up to five years after they retire from professional basketball." Select team members also will be "assigned player development personnel and have access to the NBA’s catalog of off-court training programs, such as financial literacy, professional shadowing and healthy relationships" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 5/12)
