NBA to shut down G-League Ignite program after 2023-24 season

NBA to shut down G-League Ignite program after 2023-24 season

The NBA will be shutting down G-League ignite after this season, NBA insider Shams Charania of The Athletic was among the first to report Thursday.

“Four years ago, we started Ignite to fill a void in the basketball landscape, and I’m proud of the contributions we were able to make to that ecosystem,” Abdur-Rahim said in a statement, per The Athletic. “With the changing environment across youth and collegiate basketball, now is the right time to take this step. I want to extend my sincere gratitude to general manager Anthony McClish, head coach Jason Hart and their staff and to each player who wore an Ignite jersey. As ever, the G League’s commitment to developing top NBA talent and helping players achieve their NBA dreams is unwavering.”

This should not come as a surprise to many; it was trending in this direction, especially after NBA commissioner Adam Silver said during the All-Star break that they were going to “re-assess” the future of the Ignite program, which has existed since 2020. The introduction and growth of NIL in college basketball–and in college athletics as a whole–has changed the landscape.

“Now some of those same players who didn’t want to be one-and-done players because they felt it was unfair and they wanted the ability not just to earn a living playing basketball but to do commercial deals that weren’t available to them at college, to hire professional agents, an opportunity that wasn’t available to them at college,” Silver said at the time. “Now, all of those same opportunities have become available to them.“

Players also weren’t developing relative to the expectation at the G-League level. There were players who have had decent NBA careers so far–including  Jalen Green (2021 draft) and Jonathan Kuminga (‘21), with Dyson Daniels (‘22) and Scoot Henderson (‘23) carving out roles–but the expectation wasn’t met. Players were still developing as well–if not better–internationally and in college, not the G-League Ignite.

In what’s looked at as a below-average draft class this year, Matas Buzelis, Ron Holland, Tyler Smith and Izan Almansa are all expected to be drafted. Though one of my bigger questions is what happens to those who would still be with G-League Ignite after this season. Do players like Babacar Sane and London Johnson also declare, or do they go to college (is that allowed?!?), stay in the G-League (as free agents, if that’s allowed) or play internationally for a season or two?!?

As I said here, NIL is only going to continue to grow; even though the transfer portal is making it harder for programs to sustain long-term success, but that route has shown that it’s better at developing college talent (which is situation-dependent) over this half-decade sample. The American Youth Basketball system isn’t good at it, in general, but that’s a different discussion for a different day.

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