Adam Silver has made a lot of adjustments to the NBA since earning the role of commissioner in early 2014. He has created the NBA G-League, formerly known as the D-League, after teaming up with Gatorade, he plans to stretch out the season and reduce the amount of back to back games that teams have to play, and he recently changed the All-Star game format. His most recent plan, though, is to remove the one-and-done rule and allow high school players to go straight to the G-League instead. That move would be huge for not only the NBA, but the NCAA as well.
The NCAA has received a lot of criticism over the years, especially for things like “… teams trying to restrict players’ transfers, schools profiting off athletes and not returning any revenue to them(especially with jerseys, which led to the NCAA store deciding not to sell those any more), schools profiting off scandal and more.” This would be huge for NCAA College Basketball, though, because players not only could just go straight to the league and play, but if they go to the G-League first, they wouldn’t have to jump straight into the league, but would still be able to get paid for playing. They, most likely, wouldn’t be able to get the best players in the country because there would be no point for them to go.
This move would be big for the NBA, too, as they’d be able to gain more viewership and revenue through letting players come right into G-League. Not only would they get jersey sales from the big name talents, like if Lonzo Ball or Markelle Fultz were to have gone, but more people would be curious to watch the G-League itself to see who they’re interested on seeing go to their favorite team.
This definitely benefits the players the most, as they have the choice of prepping their skills in college, or going into the G-League and still being able to be paid.
This has been a long time coming, though, ever since David Stern implemented the one and done rule. A lot of people complained about it and said they feel that if a high school player is ready to make the leap, then they should be allowed to. Not only does it help give more freedom to the players, but it will help the NBA gain more revenue and it will also stop the NCAA from being able to utilize athletes, and not let them get any of the cut. We don’t know how the NCAA will respond to this, or how this will actually work for the NBA, but the idea is definitely one to get behind. Also, we don’t know what it will mean for the players who actually do have to go to college because they’re not at the level yet to start off in the NBA. There’s still a lot of questions left, but Adam Silver and the NBA seem to be going in the right direction.
