The NBA and the G League announced on Thursday that the Ignite will conclude their final season after serving as a development program for the top prospects for four seasons.
The decision to shut the program down was made amid the changing basketball landscape, including the emergence of name, image and likeness licensing and the rising role of collectives and the transfer portal in the college game. Ultimately, the league opted it was best to end the program altogether.
The Ignite helped produce 10 NBA draft picks over their first three seasons, including Jalen Green, Jonathan Kuminga, Dyson Daniels, MarJon Beauchamp and Scoot Henderson. Nine former players were on rosters entering this season.
Henderson, speaking with Sean Highkin of the Rose Garden Report, wasn’t surprised to see the program end, but he was very thankful for his two years with the team.
There were multiple reasons that it shut down. But whoever played on the team and made an impact for ourselves and in the world, that’s all you can think about. I really thank the people at Ignite. The little people that you don’t see. They don’t really get enough credit for how much they have to pour into us.
The coaches, they don’t get enough credit for having to get guys from high school, to get them up to speed in a few weeks to play some grown men that have children to feed. You don’t see that. You see them getting beat a lot and having a horrible record. You don’t see the things that they go through day-to-day.
Launched in April 2020, the Ignite provided a professional platform for players in the United States. The team gave those prospects the opportunity to compete against existing teams in the G League in front of scouts, executives and coaches.
Henderson became the youngest professional basketball player in U.S. history when he signed with the team in May 2021 (17). He was the No. 10 overall prospect in his class and was the first player to spend two years with the program.
The Ignite this year, who have projected draft picks Matas Buzelis, Ron Holland and Izan Almansa, have the worst record in the G League during the regular season (2-30) and are last in point differential among all teams (minus-15.1).
Despite the decline of the program and the decision to end it, Henderson remains thankful for the opportunity the Ignite gave him to prepare him for the NBA.
“From my viewpoint, they helped me in a huge way to be where I am right now,” Henderson said. “I can’t thank them enough.”
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