OT: New competition for best High School prospects: $$$

[Sifaka]

A new league for high school players who (1) want to play professionally, and (2) do not wish to go to college/university. The league will pay each player at least $100k.

Overtime set to launch professional high school basketball league that pays players $100K

The league is hoping to become an alternative to college for young basketball stars

www.cbssports.com

This appears to be for eventual NBA prospects only. The article doesn't state that HS girls are or are not included, but historical misogyny strongly suggests that this is for boys only.

 

[Kaizen]

Great news for HS players do not like to go to college. But I suspect this is mainly for male players.

 

[Vowelguy]

The NBA has stayed away from this area preferring for quality college coaches to develop young talent. This league could end that snd you’ll see an expansion of the G league to take more youngsters.
Either way the NBA will crush this venture.

 

[SVCBeercats]

Great news for HS players do not like to go to college. But I suspect this is mainly for male players.

I wonder if any player who signs with the NBA must pay the league some percentage of their NBA contract.
Follow on: Just read the article it is perfectly clear, men only.

 

[UcMiami]

Not much different from minor leagues in hockey or baseball but pay is better - wonder if they will limit the upper age of players - would think they would to say 20. Keep it to a younger age than D-league.

For at large percentage of basketball and football players college is no more than a chance to market their skills - classes are a drain on their court/field time.

 

[UcMiami]

The NBA has stayed away from this area preferring for quality college coaches to develop young talent. This league could end that snd you’ll see an expansion of the G league to take more youngsters.
Either way the NBA will crush this venture.

I think the NBA probably loves the idea that someone is doing this - they are fine with the NCAA pipeline, but would love another route for talent. The NBA doesn't piss off their college buddies because it isn't connected, but if it works the NBA can buy them out in five years and run it themselves.

 

[Vowelguy]

I think the NBA probably loves the idea that someone is doing this - they are fine with the NCAA pipeline, but would love another route for talent. The NBA doesn't piss off their college buddies because it isn't connected, but if it works the NBA can buy them out in five years and run it themselves.

Why would the nba care was college thinks? College can do nothing to harm the NBA.
The NBA already has the G league but it has done little to promote it as an alternative to college. Recently there has been a tiny move in that direction, which I bet will now accelerate.

 

[UcMiami]

Vowelguy - I think there is a certain balance between colleges and NBA/NFL that the pro leagues like and don't want to antagonize - the Pro leagues save a ton of money by not having to create their own farm system as baseball has done and treat college as their farm system.

 

[Vowelguy]

Vowelguy - I think there is a certain balance between colleges and NBA/NFL that the pro leagues like and don't want to antagonize - the Pro leagues save a ton of money by not having to create their own farm system as baseball has done and treat college as their farm system.

I agree that they use college as their farm system, but I don't understand what they would have to worry about. Even if the colleges did feel annoyed with the NBA, what could they do?

 

[mbr33ct]

A league of 30?

Overtime Elite will begin in September 2021 and will feature 30 of the nation's top prospects from ages 16-18.

 

[GRIFFBIFF20]

Could this be the future, to which, if lucrative enough, kids who want "The Money" will skip College and thus Geno could possibly end up retiring ??

 

[KY Card Fan]

Could this be the future, to which, if lucrative enough, kids who want "The Money" will skip College and thus Geno could possibly end up retiring ??

I would be amazed if anything like this is proposed for women. It's all about the money (for both the leagues and the players) and the money is just not there for women, at least in the US.

In addition, women at the highest level of the sport generally value that college degree. Because none of them are getting one of those big-money deals that the men get.

 

[willtalk]

Not much different from minor leagues in hockey or baseball but pay is better - wonder if they will limit the upper age of players - would think they would to say 20. Keep it to a younger age than D-league.

For at large percentage of basketball and football players college is no more than a chance to market their skills - classes are a drain on their court/field time.

The problem is that the only reason their skills are on display and being marketed is the teams connection with the school. Unless there is some affiliaiton to draw in spectators there is no market for low level professionals. They already have minor leagues in most sports and they make very little money. I would think that the people who run this program have some sort of clause that makes them agents for these players when they do sign with existing professional leagues. They are just running a developmental league with future benefits. Its an investment.

Once TV exposure became a factor, minor leagues ceased to be a money making entity. Fans started following the major leagues on the tube rather than being limited to their local cities minor leagued team. The only way this would work is if the NBA supports it finanicially and it becomes much like the local teams in minor league baseball once were.

It does make rational sense though. The colleges should have treated their spots teams like vocational classes rather than the extra curricular event they began as. Once they became a means of making a living that is how they should have been treated. College sports have morphed into a means of getting exposure and development rather than a way to get a degree. It was actually the NCAA, in their bid to control college sports while feeding on the financial money tree that created this situation. They are not allowing players the opportunity to develop their athletic vocational skills by placing too many restrictions on them. You do not see the same restrictions placed on simular vocations being offered by the Universities.

By throwing most of their rules too the wind this covid season they have opened themselves up to the rational of the guildlines the have used for eligibility in the past. I would like to see a class action suit against the NCAA in respect to the loss of income their arbitary rules have affected on the earning potential of athletes that they have negatively affected.

 

[VidNick]

The NBA is overflowing with talent, not just from the US, but Europe and elsewhere. No doubt a few kids would benefit and make it to the big time, but not many. The rest will be there to give the rare talents someone to play with/against. Not unlike baseball's minor leagues. I just don't see where money is to be made though.

 

[NormanDale]

Could this be the future, to which, if lucrative enough, kids who want "The Money" will skip College and thus Geno could possibly end up retiring ??

No, the consensus Top 25 kids that Geno recruits every year would make 10x this in likeness deals.