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North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Roy Williams doesn’t believe the revamped NBA G League professional pathway program is bad for college basketball.
The G League announced on April 16 its plans to launch a new developmental team as an alternative path for elite prospects wanting to play professionally. Five-star prospects Jalen Green and Isaiah Todd were the first two players to commit to playing on the G League Select Team.
Upon its launch, many believed the program could have significant ramifications for the NCAA with some of the top high school prospects skipping college basketball altogether. Williams, who spoke Thursday on the Dan Patrick Show, doesn’t believe that to be the case moving forward.
I don’t think it’s bad for college basketball. The NBA is going to make their rules for what they want. They’re not our partner, they are going to make the rules that are best for the NBA. There will be several players every year that will try to do that and that’s okay if they have no interest in college. The only negative thing I think is they are calling kids now who have already signed and committed to go to college and trying to see if they have any interest. I don’t think they should be doing that, that’s my own personal opinion.
Some kids really don’t want to go to college and that’s okay. There is going to be a game twice a year where one team has on a Duke uniform and the other team has on a North Carolina uniform and they are still going to play and it’s going to be that way next year, 10 years and 20 years from now. The NBA is doing the right thing in most part because they are doing what they think is best for their game.
On Tuesday, college basketball saw the first player to verbally commit to a school change his mind to join the G League when Daishen Nix de-committed from UCLA in order to join Green and Todd. Williams took exception with that decision in his interview and doesn’t believe the G League should target those players.
The G League Select Team will only be targeting the top prospects in the country and likely won’t interfere with college recruiting too much with the exception of a small percentage of players, though it could prevent some of the top college programs from adding high-profile players moving forward, like a Green or Todd.
Under the structure of the new program, prospects will be placed on a team filled with veteran players and experienced coaches to provide mentorship throughout the season. They will participate in training and exhibition games and will play around 10-12 games against existing G League teams.
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