NBA makes final call on fate of G League Ignite

The developmental G League Ignite squad started in 2020, but changes to college basketball rules made it less necessary. In addition, for a team that recruited the best young prospects in the game, there wasn’t a ton of success. Ignite produced four top-10 selections, including Jalen Green and Jonathan Kuminga, but that’s somewhat disappointing for the pedigree of players it had.

The COVID-19 pandemic hurt the league right at the outset, which led to very little game play from the program in its first season. But more than that, NBA owners are likely reluctant to keep pouring resources into Ignite with uncertain returns.

For a team devoted to preparing players for NBA careers, the Ignite program had some blind spots. Literally.

Henderson was in the Ignite program for two years, and not until he was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers did they notice he needed contact lenses.

Mostly there’s simply not a reason for Ignite to exist anymore. When it was founded, there was a noble intent to give young basketball stars a chance to earn a salary and develop their skills, rather than a college scholarship being their only alternative.

Now, players can go to college while getting paid for their name, image and likeness rights. There’s also options like Overtime Elite, where Ausar and Amen Thompson played, or the IMG Academy, which produced players like Anfernee Simons.

At the same time, increased salaries for the G League and the addition of three two-way roster spots have left the NBA with a deep pool of players to fill out rosters. But the elite youth team simply failed to, well, ignite.