NBA’s Failed Experiment: The G-League Ignite
Since 2008, the NBA G-League has served as an option for young prospects to develop and as a pathway to the NBA, with the minimum age limit being 18 instead of the NBA’s 19 minimum. The G-League’s selling point had always been letting prospects earn a wage while playing against more mature and professional competition. Nevertheless, it was very rare for top high school prospects to choose the G-League over the traditional college route, or even over other professional leagues overseas such as Australia’s NBL.
Back in 2019, the NBA saw two top high school prospects in LaMelo Ball (ranked #21 out of high school, drafted 3rd overall in 2020) and R.J. Hampton (ranked #5 out of high school, drafted 24th overall in 2020) go overseas to Australia’s NBL for their development, both making a wage of around $500,000 for the season. Domestically, an alternative option for players to play in a pro league and make a lucrative wage was missing. As for the NBA’s G-League, despite earlier efforts to offer Select Contracts of $125,000, no players opted for the pathway.
When the G-League Ignite select team program was announced in 2020, it seemed like the tide was changing. The program raised their wages, revamped their structure and scheduling, and offered improved mentorship programs as well. Suddenly, there was now an option for high school prospects to skip college and play in a professional league, earn a lucrative wage, and gain international exposure.
In its inaugural year, the G-League Ignite team featured Jalen Green (ranked #1 out of high school) and Jonathan Kuminga (ranked #4 out of high school), as well as Isaiah Todd (ranked #14 out of high school) and Daishen Nix (ranked #21 out of high school). At the time, several journalists and media outlets truly believed that the G-League Ignite program was going to be a massive threat to the NCAA, and rightfully so. The program had just taken four 5-star recruit players away from the hands of colleges with their staggering wages, with Jalen Green’s contract being reported to be worth $500,000 for one season of development.
In its second season, the program continued to attract top prospects such as Dyson Daniels from Australia, Jaden Hardy (ranked #2 out of high school), MarJon Beauchamp, Michael Foster Jr. (ranked #9 out of high school), and 4-star recruit Fanbo Zeng. 5-star recruit Scoot Henderson also signed a $1 million contract for two developmental years and became the youngest professional player in history at age 17.
In its third season, besides Scoot Henderson, the program featured a slightly underwhelming list of prospects including Leonard Miller (ranked #61 out of high school), Sidy Cissoko, Efe Abogidi, Babacar Sane, London Johnson, Mojave King, and Shaquille O’Neal’s son, Shareef O’Neal.
In its final season, the team featured top prospects like Ron Holland (ranked #2 out of high school), Matas Buzelis (ranked #5 out of high school), as well as others like 5-star recruit Tyler Smith, Dink Pate, Izan Almansa, and Thierry Darlan.
NCAA’s NIL Rule change
Many people would attribute the failure of the G-League Ignite program to the NCAA’s Name, Image, and Likeness rule change in 2021, which allowed collegiate athletes to get compensated for their endorsements and personal branding. Since then, the rule has rapidly evolved to now letting colleges directly pay players through revenue sharing. This has eliminated the need for players to play in a professional league in order to get paid, as they can now get paid in college, and sometimes earn more lucrative wages. Cooper Flagg (ranked #1 out of high school, drafted 1st overall in this year’s draft), for example, made a staggering $1.4 million playing for Duke University last year, representing a figure almost three times the wage offered by Ignite. But even though the G-League Ignite’s failure can partially be attributed the NIL rule change, a lot of it still had to do with the execution of the program itself.
Ignite’s Draft Results
The Ignite program’s problems started to show immediately after its first season at the 2021 NBA Draft. While Jalen Green was drafted second overall, Kuminga fell slightly to seventh; Isaiah Todd fell to 31st, and Daishen Nix, once the #1 point guard in the country, went completely undrafted. Likewise, the 2022 NBA Draft had Dyson Daniels go 8th and MarJon Beauchamp 24th overall, but saw Jaden Hardy fall to the second round at 37th, Michael Foster Jr. undrafted, and Fanbo Zeng undrafted.
The 2023 NBA Draft saw Scoot Henderson fall to 3rd overall from the projected 2nd overall, as well as Sidy Cissoko, Leonard Miller, and Mojave King drafted in the second round and the rest undrafted.
The 2024 NBA Draft saw Ron Holland going 5th overall, Matas Buzelis fall to 11th, and Tyler Smith drafted in the second round. Izan Almansa and Dink Pate went undrafted in this year’s 2025 NBA Draft.
Despite the Ignite’s extraordinary feat of 13 players drafted in 4 years, many of its players saw their draft stock fall as a result of their development year with the program, and many others saw themselves completely passed on and undrafted at draft night.
The problem
While the select-team format and exhibition schedule initially seemed promising for player exposure and development, it quickly became apparent that the Ignite team, with its stacked presence of top prospects, resulted in intra-team competition between players fighting for individual stats, and lacked the winning mentality found in college and overseas professional leagues. Ignite players were forced to focus on themselves and their individual stats in order to have the best chance at making the NBA, instead of fighting for a common, collective goal such as winning a championship. This led to the Ignite having a record of 2 wins and 32 losses in their final season.
Many of Ignite’s former players have also struggled with translating their success into the NBA. MarJon Beauchamp, for example, is out of the league already after just three seasons. A lot of the other players, like Mojave King, never even got to suit up for a game in the NBA. Even for Scoot Henderson, who was once seen as a similar caliber prospect as Victor Wembanyama, has failed to impress through his first two seasons in the NBA, and has not played a game this season due to injury. Jonathan Kuminga, who has shown many stretches and moments of his great potential, has also failed to deliver consistent performances since coming into the league.
Matas Buzelis has also recently revealed that the G-League Ignite team failed to generate a respectable turnout to their games, often playing in front of empty crowds and small gyms. On the other hand, colleges are usually backed by passionate fans with years and generations of devoted affinity for their teams, and players take part in much more meaningful games such as the March Madness, which also drove many prospects from away from the G-League Ignite program in the future.
The NBA announced its shutdown of the G-League Ignite program on March 21st, 2024. Ultimately, the failure of the program was attributed to the changing basketball landscape, including the NCAA’s NIL policy and the advent of collectives and the transfer portal. However, the execution of program was also what drove prospects away from joining, and why so many former player’s careers didn’t benefit from the development promised by the G-League Ignite.
“ESPN Basketball Recruiting - Player Rankings.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, www.espn.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/rankings/scnext300boys/_/class/2024/order/true.
Hoops, A.M. “What Killed G-League Ignite?” YouTube, YouTube, 24 July 2024, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy7q4k8HQlI.
release, Official. “Top High School Prospect Jalen Green Signs Deal with NBA G League.” NBA, NBA.com, 10 Oct. 2020, www.nba.com/news/jalen-green-signs-g-league-official-release.
Stacy, Logan. “The G League Ignite Has Failed to Develop NBA Players.” The Lead, 7 May 2025, theleadsm.com/the-g-league-ignite-has-failed-to-develop-nba-players/.