The NBA’s mysterious new elite development team

Millions of dollars to recruit for the G League, and a lot of questions

BY JAROD HECTOR

On April 16, the NBA announced that Jalen Green, the top player in the high-school class of 2020, would enter the G League’s deep-pocketed new professional development program. Green would reportedly make half a million dollars for a year after high-school. 

To a who’s who of NBA insiders—agents, front office personnel, players—the news of April 16 wasn’t about Green. The news was: The G League had a deep-pocketed new professional development program? 

“The whole thing caught me by surprise,” NBA agent Brandon Grier tells TrueHoop. “Nobody knew about it.”