Top HS prospect Green enters G League, skips college

MANILA, Philippines—Jalen Green went the unconventional route in his preparation for the NBA.

The No.1 recruit in the 2020 high school class, Green skipped what would’ve been his freshman year in college and instead entered the NBA G League.

Green, who’s of Filipino-American descent, was already an accomplished international player for the United States earning gold medals in the 2019 Fiba U-19 and 2018 Fiba U-17 Basketball World Cups and was the MVP in the latter tournament.

In a report from Yahoo! Sports, Green said his decision was already planned out and while he’ll become a professional straight out of high school, he can still get college education whenever he wants.

“I wanted to get better overall and prepare myself for the NBA because that’s my ultimate goal,” said Green in the report. “Everything was planned outright and set me up to succeed. I think this was a good decision at the end of the day.”

“I’m still going to be able to go back to college and finish school. So it’s not really that I’m missing out on college because I can go back and finish whenever I need to. School is a big thing in my family.”

The University of Memphis, which has Penny Hardaway as the coach of its men’s basketball team, was heavily linked with Green in the past as the recruit’s potential college of choice.

Green is set to receive a salary of $500,000 while playing for the NBA’s developmental league and will also receive free college tuition that he may use anytime.

G League President Shareef Abdur-Rahim was excited with Green’s decision to play in the developmental circuit wherein he’s in closer proximity to NBA personnel.

“We’re thrilled to welcome a player and a person of Jalen’s caliber to the NBA G League,” said Abdur-Rahim. “He represents the next generation of NBA players and we couldn’t be more excited to have him develop his professional skills in our league.”

“Jalen will learn from an NBA-caliber coaching and player development staff as he begins his professional basketball journey in the NBA G League,” added Abdur-Rahim.

Notable G League alumni who’ve made a substantial impact in the NBA include Pascal Siakam, Khris Middleton, Danny Green, Jeremy Lin, and Hassan Whiteside.