G-League Ignite: A Bold Experiment That Failed to Ignite

The G-League Ignite was meant to revolutionize the basketball landscape. When it launched in 2020, it was hailed as the future of player development, offering top high school prospects an alternative to college basketball. Many believed it would challenge the dominance of the NCAA and perhaps even mark the beginning of the end for collegiate basketball. The Ignite quickly made waves by flipping two top 20 recruits away from college, producing a star like Jalen Green, the second overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. Yet, just three years later, the program is shutting down. What went wrong? How did a project with so much promise unravel so quickly?

The Vision Behind G-League Ignite

The idea for Ignite emerged from a perfect storm of circumstances. Players with NBA aspirations who didn’t want to play college basketball were left with few options to develop their game and earn a living. Before Ignite, some had to venture overseas, as LaMelo Ball and RJ Hampton did in 2020, heading to Australia to gain professional experience. The NCAA, despite generating vast sums of money through its basketball program, operated under strict amateurism rules, meaning players weren’t paid for their efforts. This forced elite prospects to either play overseas or risk engaging in illicit schemes that could lead to penalties.

High-profile cases of under-the-table payments were rampant, with some schemes being outright shady, such as boosters funneling money through online poker games or setting up fake businesses for players’ parents. The FBI’s 2017 investigation into college basketball corruption only added to the sense that reform was needed. In response, the NBA created G-League Ignite—a team that would pay top high school recruits competitive salaries and prepare them for the NBA without the need to attend college.

Why Not Just Let High School Players Enter the NBA?

The NBA had once allowed players to be drafted straight out of high school, with great success stories such as Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, LeBron James, and Dwight Howard. However, for every superstar, there were players like Kwame Brown, the first high school player to be selected as the number one overall pick, who struggled mightily in the league. Brown’s failure, especially under the weight of Michael Jordan’s expectations at the Washington Wizards, contributed to a shift in NBA policy. In 2005, the league and its owners agreed to raise the minimum draft age to 19, effectively requiring players to spend at least one year out of high school before becoming eligible for the draft.

This led to the rise of the so-called “one-and-done” era, where top prospects would play a single season of college basketball before declaring for the NBA Draft. However, the creation of G-League Ignite aimed to disrupt this model by offering players a chance to get paid without attending college.

The Initial Success of Ignite

Ignite’s debut season saw immediate results. Jalen Green, the top high school prospect in the country, signed a $500,000 contract and was soon joined by other highly touted recruits like Isaiah Todd, who decommitted from the University of Michigan to join Ignite. Green’s success in the program was undeniable, as he was selected second overall by the Houston Rockets in the 2021 NBA Draft. For a brief moment, it seemed like Ignite had found a winning formula.

But not all Ignite players experienced the same success. Daishen Nix, for example, was a McDonald’s All-American and the top point guard in his recruiting class. He opted for Ignite over UCLA, only to see his draft stock plummet after a disappointing season where he shot just 38% from the field and eventually went undrafted. Even highly touted prospects like Scoot Henderson, who was expected to be a top-two pick, saw his stock fall, as he dropped to third in the 2023 NBA Draft—a significant setback for the Ignite program.

What Went Wrong?

Several factors contributed to Ignite’s downfall. First and foremost was the team’s structure. Unlike college teams or overseas programs where young prospects are surrounded by experienced veterans focused on winning, Ignite was a collection of young players, all vying for individual success. This created a competitive and often chaotic environment where the focus seemed more on personal stats than on team performance. The result? A disastrous 2023 season where Ignite finished with a 2-32 record, enduring multiple blowout losses by 20 points or more.

In contrast, college and overseas teams had a shared goal: winning. That cohesion was absent in Ignite, where players were more concerned about improving their draft prospects than achieving team success. This was a far cry from the competitive environments in college basketball or international leagues, where players are expected to balance individual development with team success.

The NIL Effect

Just as Ignite was struggling to find its footing, another seismic shift occurred in the world of college sports. In June 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of college athletes, allowing them to profit from their name, image, and likeness (NIL). This decision opened the floodgates for college athletes to secure lucrative endorsement deals, something they had previously been denied.

NIL changed the equation for elite prospects. Before, players who wanted to make money while developing their game had few options outside of Ignite or playing overseas. But now, they could stay in college, play on nationally televised stages, and earn significant income through brand deals. Players like Shedeur Sanders, who made $4.8 million through NIL in 2023, became the poster children for this new era of college sports. Even high school phenom Cooper Flagg, who committed to Duke and earned $1.4 million through NIL deals, represented a new reality: players no longer needed to bypass college to secure financial security.

For Ignite, this was a devastating blow. The program’s primary selling point—paying players—was no longer unique. Suddenly, college basketball offered both the opportunity to earn money and the exposure of playing on national television, with the chance to compete in marquee events like March Madness.

The Death of Ignite

By March 2024, the NBA had seen enough. With Ignite no longer attracting top recruits, the league decided to shut down the program after just four seasons. While Jalen Green’s success initially gave the project a glimmer of hope, the lack of consistent top-tier talent and the rise of NIL ultimately sealed Ignite’s fate.

One former Ignite player, Matas Buzelis, shed light on the program’s other key issue: location. Based in a remote area outside Las Vegas, Ignite struggled to draw crowds. Playing in front of sparse audiences in small gyms was a far cry from the packed arenas and roaring crowds that college players experienced. For many players, watching their friends on national television, competing in front of massive audiences, while they toiled in obscurity, was demoralizing.

In the end, while G-League Ignite was a bold idea, it couldn’t compete with the allure of college basketball in the NIL era. For elite prospects, the combination of financial opportunities and national exposure that college offers proved too attractive to pass up. Ignite, despite its potential, ultimately became a failed experiment in the ever-evolving world of basketball player development.