Why did the NBA decide to fold the G League Ignite?
Yahoo Sports NBA draft analyst Krysten Peek explains the reasoning behind the league’s decision to fold the squad after the upcoming 2024 season.
Video Transcript
KRYSTEN PEEK: The NBA announced just now that they will be shutting down the G League Ignite program. It's been a feeder to the NBA to compete with college basketball and the professional route. They've had success in the past with Scoot Henderson, who was the number three pick last year, Jalen Green, and Jonathan Kuminga as well, who also opted to go that route.
However, with the new rules of NIL and the college transfer portal, that is allowing further opportunities for these players to make money and also play basketball before they hit the NBA. We saw it this year with the competition with Matas Buzelis and Ron Holland, both projected lottery picks, and Tyler Smith. And just with the lack of competition in the sense where they weren't winning a lot of games, they weren't selling a lot of tickets.
So when Adam Silver addressed the media, all-star weekend, and said, this is an area that we're looking to either move away from or look into and do something else. It's now clear they are shutting down the program just after three years of inception. And now we don't know what's going to happen to the players that still have draft eligibility and what they are going to have to do next year to find a new team.
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