Suns’ Cam Johnson a surprising exception to those decrying NCAA model

Suns rookie Cam Johnson has some surprising views on his NCAA experience given his prior issues with the organization’s transfer rules.

As the NBA becomes an increasingly global organization, a growing number of domestic prospects have considered alternative routes to the NCAA pipeline into the league.

With the NCAA embroiled in a number of controversies laden with injury risk without direct compensation, high-level prospects are instead choosing to consider signing a deal with Australia’s National Basketball League (NBL) as one such alternative paths to professional play.

Prospects like R.J. Barrett and LaMelo Ball are getting paid to play among grown men competing for real spoils and not just exposure but is the NCAA model entirely broken, or are there still “student-athletes” out there who value the education side of the coin?

Rookie Wire caught up with Phoenix Suns rookie forward Cam Johnson recently, and if anyone has a reason to be irked with the NCAA model, he’d certainly be near the top of the list.

Taking advantage of the graduate transfer rule at the collegiate level after earning his bachelor’s degree in just three years, the studious forward sought to continue his education at North Carolina, only to have his alma mater Pitt try to block the in-conference move.

Despite the resistance, Pitt ultimately allowed the transfer — perhaps in part due to the backlash it created — and Johnson went on to earn a master’s before even setting foot in the league.

So, when Rookie Wire asked if he’d have perhaps taken a similar route to Ball and Barrett with a trip down under to the NBL or perhaps by signing an expanded G League contract (should that become viable), Johnson made a point of emphasizing how much he valued the chance to get his degrees.

“I think getting my master’s was really important to me, and I don’t think the experience that I had at North Carolina could be replicated anywhere else,” Johnson said.

Aware his situation was unique and not by any means something that should be expected of all his peers, he continued, “I know it’s an option for a lot of kids is because maybe that’s just how they’re wired, or the money is definitely better.”

Not all prospects have the luxury of knowing their academics are going to carry them to a four-year degree, never mind an advanced one. And many, if not most, are only in the college game at all for the exposure it will grant them to the NBA scouts searching for the next big thing.

You can be “found” overseas, but the NBL’s “Next Stars” program — and the relatively large paychecks and English-speaking context of the league — represent one of few options available with a high degree of visibility for elite prospects concerned with injury or the stringent rules of the NCAA mucking up a shot at the NBA.

With media fanfare in Australia, New Zealand and back home as well, the NBL could become an attractive new path for elite prospects.

While there’s less coverage than perhaps one might get at the Duke’s and Kentucky’s of the NCAA, a $50,000 paycheck with most expenses paid arrangement is sure to appeal to at least some of Johnson’s former peers.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver hopes to change or at least expand the range of options through a number of moves tied towards increasing the importance of the NBA’s G League as another alternative to the NCAA (the expansion of the league into Mexico City in December the most recent example), but that change is likely still a season or more away.

Johnson, keenly aware of the diverse landscapes high-school-age prospects face as individuals but valuing the doors the NCAA opened for him, had a thoughtful analysis of the situation.

An expanded G League contract, an NBL contract is more money than you get in college, so it just depends on where a student-athlete or just an athlete’s preferences are. For me, that that college experience was really special, and getting my master’s was really special, so I would go back and do it all the same.

While the G League will likely join the NBL in challenging the NCAA model in coming years, for now at least there are still plenty of supporters who value the opportunities their scholarships create.

Even elite players like Johnson sometimes place a premium on the value of education and can do so despite the shortcomings and problematic aspects of the organization more broadly.

With the NBA looking set to abandon the “one-and-done” model sooner than later and a variety of alternative approaches to getting noticed by the right people ahead of an eligible NBA Draft, the landscape of the global basketball development may be on the cusp of a tectonic shift.

Added to the ongoing trend of laws introduced and litigation waged on the issue of player compensation and the concerns about the role of the NCAA in NBA talent ascension may soon be diminished of its own accord anyway.

Such an outcome would, in truth, likely be welcomed by all sides.

Students who, like Johnson, have interest in the “student” side of the often-specious moniker “student-athlete” will likely take advantage of those opportunities for longer than their exposure-oriented peers might otherwise, a win-win prospect for all involved.

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