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On heels of ‘Save America’s Pastime Act’ NBA gives its ‘minor-leaguers’ a raise

By Derek Helling

MISSISSAUGA, CANADA - APRIL 10: The Austin Spurs team celebrates after defeating the Raptors 905 to win the NBA G League Championship on April 10, 2018 at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Ron Turenne/NBAE via Getty Images)
MISSISSAUGA, CANADA - APRIL 10: The Austin Spurs team celebrates after defeating the Raptors 905 to win the NBA G League Championship on April 10, 2018 at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Ron Turenne/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Shortly after MLB successfully lobbied Congress for a legal exemption from federal minimum wage and overtime laws, the NBA has voluntarily gave its G-League players a massive raise.

MLB and the NBA have been in cahoots lobbying state legislatures for “integrity” or “rights” fees in sports betting legalization bills, but it seems there is a departure between those two leagues in terms of philosophy of how they treat their potential future stars.

Just about a month after a federal spending bill which included a provision that defined minor-league baseball players as seasonal workers exempt from minimum wage and overtime pay requirements, a provision that MLB had spent millions of dollars to persuade Congress to include in its budget, the NBA has gone in a completely different direction.

On Tuesday the NBA announced that it was raising the base salary of all its G-League players to $35,000 per year for the 2018-19 season. Players can make more by earning call-ups to the NBA and bonuses from the affiliated NBA franchises. For players on all 28 teams, the raise represents at least a $9,000 uptick. The most any player could make in the 2017-18 season was $26,000.

In addition the NBA is going to provide health insurance and housing for its G-League players as well. According to Marc J. Spears of ESPN, when all 30 NBA franchises have a G-League affiliate, player salaries are expected to rise again.

It’s important to note that there are currently only 28 G-League teams with 12 players on each for a total of 336 players, while there are hundreds of MLB-affiliated minor-league baseball teams with many more players on each team. Paying each of those thousands of minor-league players $35,000 a year on top of providing for benefits and housing would be a much more significant investment for MLB than it is for the NBA.

Still, it’s an obvious deviation in philosophy proven in action between the two leagues. The millions of dollars that MLB has spent fighting lawsuits brought against it by minor-league players and lobbying Congress for the legal exemption could have instead been dispersed among those thousands of minor-league players. Giving those minor-league players, who unlike the G-League players have to pay for their own housing out of their often meager salaries, any kind of raise would have been a step in the right direction. MLB and the NBA have a difference in philosophy, but this move sets the NBA at odds with another sporting venture in a much more tangible way.

The sporting world recently became familiar with the story of Darius Bazley, who decided to forego playing college basketball and take his talents to the G-League. The announcement of a pay raise along with housing and insurance benefits could make many more players of a similar talent level seriously consider doing the same. The differences between playing college basketball and the G-League are stark.

NCAA-member institutions also provide housing for their men’s basketball players and many provide a level of health coverage as well, but there are no NCAA rules requiring men’s basketball programs to do either. In the G-League, both of those elements are a guarantee.

The G-League also allows its players to potentially share in the spoils of doing business without sacrificing their ability to continue to play. NCAA athletes who attempt to profit off their own image, likeness and/or name as an NCAA athlete risk their eligibility and along with it their relationship with the programs which feed and house them.

If allegations made in the ongoing FBI investigation into college basketball turn out to be founded, then the “under the table” money some players make playing college basketball may rival what a player could make in the G-League. The final potential difference between the two experiences has to do with education.

Playing college basketball affords those who go that route an opportunity to get a degree on the dime of the corresponding institution, for those on scholarship anyway. The quality of that education could be questioned, however, as evidenced by the recent academic scandal at North Carolina. The current “one-and-done” system, which the NBA is largely responsible for due to its age requirement for being eligible for the NBA Draft, plays a part in compromising the academic experience of many college basketball players.

Next: 10 Biggest NBA Draft Mistakes of All-Time

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has hinted at the NBA’s willingness to change that policy, however, and the improved working conditions for G-League players put actions behind those words. It seems that unlike MLB and the NCAA, the NBA views its prospects as human beings and not mere cogs in the money machine.