Jalen Green braces for challenge vs grown men in NBA G League

Fil-American NBA hopeful Jalen Green at the NBTC National Finals. INQUIRER PHOTO/TRISTAN TAMAYO

MANILA, Philippines—Jalen Green was always at the top of his field when it came to basketball.

He is the no.1 ranked recruit in the 2020 class, a two-time gold medal winner in junior Fiba World Cups, and a McDonald’s All-American.

Suffice to say, Green has always been the target of his competitors and he’s expecting the same thing to happen once he starts playing in the NBA G League.

Green will lead the Select Team in the G League which is comprised of other prep stars who decided to join the NBA’s developmental circuit instead of taking the collegiate route and he’s expecting a tough life playing against grown men.

“I’m not too sure if they put a target on me, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they did,” said Green in a Zoom media availability session for NBA Republika Playoffs Party Thursday.

“We’re 18-year-old kids coming into a grown man’s league. I’ve had a target on my back since my freshman year in high school.”

Green started the new trend of high school stars jumping straight to the professional league instead of playing for at least one year in college.

Jonathan Kuminga, Daishen Nix, Princepal Singh, Kai Sotto, and Isaiah Todd all followed Green’s decision and made up the Select Team.

Green said that he knows that they’ll be on the receiving end of some physical play once the G League season starts as they go up against those who have been playing for longer than they did.

“We have to prepared for the physicality because we’re playing against grown men,” said Green. “We got to keep getting stronger.”