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Earlier today the G-League made waves when they announced that they had increased their max salaries to $125k for “select” high school recruits who are looking to skip college and want to play basketball professionally.
The NBA plans to offer a "professional path" to the G-League with select $125K salaries to players as an alternative to the one-and-done college route, ESPN's @DraftExpress reports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 18, 2018
Via ESPN
As part of a newly formed “professional path” starting in the summer of 2019, the G League will offer “Select Contracts” worth $125,000 to elite prospects who are at least 18 years old but not yet eligible for the NBA draft. It will target recent or would-be high school graduates who otherwise would have likely spent just one season playing college basketball, enticing them not only with a six-figure salary but also the opportunity to benefit from NBA infrastructure, as well as a bevy of off-court development programs “geared towards facilitating and accelerating their transition to the pro game,” Turner said.
Without the restrictions of the NCAA’s amateurism rules, players will also be free to hire agents, profit off their likeness and pursue marketing deals from sneaker companies and the like, which could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in endorsement opportunities to top prospects.
After the news broke, many WNBA players and fans pointed that the G-League is offering higher salaries for high school players than the max salary in the WNBA which is $110k.
G-League “professional path” contract: $125,000
WNBA max salary: $110,000
Some 18-year-old kid will make more than WNBA MVP and WNBA Finals MVP Breanna Stewart
— Master (@MasterTes) October 18, 2018
Hahahahahahahahhahahahahaha let me get one of these “select contracts” https://t.co/80zcLpdGOL
— A'ja Wilson (@_ajawilson22) October 18, 2018
But lowkey the real question here is: with this being more than the WNBA max salary, would women be allowed to hoop in the GLeague? because I think some of us could hang. Asking for a friend. 💯✊🏿 😂 https://t.co/tTLYEg7UzL
— Chiney Ogwumike (@chiney) October 18, 2018
That's $10k more than Diana Taurasi made in the WNBA last year. https://t.co/YCsGsA69lr
— Katie Barnes (@katie_barnes3) October 18, 2018
https://twitter.com/madhartman/status/1052959573039112193
https://twitter.com/darcangel21/status/1052981705856954369
Also, I guarantee you WNBA players are paying attention to this number — which is bigger than the WNBA max. https://t.co/sApCAx0E2K
— Lindsay Gibbs (@linzsports) October 18, 2018