College basketball is not dying but thriving G League will force NCAA to change for better

More and more elite recruits are flocking to the G-League, but that doesn’t mean college basketball is on life support. So just relax.

Five-star point guard Daishen Nix decommitted from UCLA and signed with the G League pathway program. Nix is rated as the No. 1 point guard, according to 247Sports and one of the top-15 recruits nationally. He was the highest-rated commitment for the Bruins who had a class ranked No. 42 before the decommitment.

Nix joins Jalen Green and Isaiah Todd as five-star recruits who spurned college basketball in favor of playing in the G League for a $300,000 salary, among other perks and benefits. Nix, however, is the first player who committed to a college program before turning pro. With the latest developments in the G League pathway program, this will undoubtedly lead to more top recruits following the path of Green, Todd and Nix.

However, it’s far too premature and way too gross of an overreaction to predict the death of college basketball.

I’m old enough to remember when allowing prep players to declare for the NBA Draft was supposed to be the death of college basketball.

Sure, it would have been cool to see where Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady and LeBron James would have played their college basketball, but the sport was just fine without these stars.

The NBA did change the rule which made players attend college for at least one season. This led to players like Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis and Ben Simmons, among others to play a single season of college basketball.

With the exception of Davis, the presence of Durant or Simmons in college did little to change the landscape of the sport. David helped lead Kentucky to a national title but Durant’s Texas team was a fringe tournament team and Simmons couldn’t even get LSU to the tournament.

Even with the new rule, there were workarounds such as Brandon Jennings or LaMelo Ball playing overseas for a season after high school before being eligible for the NBA Draft.

How will college basketball ever survive without another Ball brother?

But seriously, college basketball is going to be just fine. The NCAA knows they need to change and they are in the process of changing. The big change they need to make is allowing student-athletes the opportunity to cash in on their name, image and likeness. That could be in place as early as the 2021 calendar year.

This will allow all student-athletes the opportunity to make commercials, promote a company, promote themselves for an autograph signing or other appearance. It also includes the opportunity for top players to host their own camp.

Imagine the cash opportunities if Green, Todd or Nix could have their own 3-on-3 tournament or their own basketball summer camp. It would generate a significant amount of money. It may not be $300,000 type of money, but it could be the type of money that coaxes athletes to go the college route, enjoy the college experience and then really cash in the next year in the NBA.

The G League pathway program looks to be on the verge of thriving so long as these prospects find a modicum of success here before transitioning to the NBA. If they flop, aren’t drafted high in the draft and flop in the NBA, it’ll be an indictment on the process and could sway more to going the traditional college route.

The overriding thing is the world is changing and young athletes are realizing they hold a lot of power and they’re using their leverage to put themselves in situations where they can literally cash in.

Whether it’s in the G League or college basketball, the athletes having options is always a good thing.

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