WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.660 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today, we are 00:00:02.660 --> 00:00:04.759 stripping away the glamour. We are leaving the 00:00:04.759 --> 00:00:06.919 bright lights of Madison Square Garden. We are 00:00:06.919 --> 00:00:09.640 stepping away from the crypto .com arena, and 00:00:09.640 --> 00:00:12.619 we are going down to the basement. Or rather. 00:00:13.070 --> 00:00:15.570 The engine room. The engine room. That is really 00:00:15.570 --> 00:00:17.570 the perfect way to put it. Well, yeah. I mean, 00:00:17.570 --> 00:00:19.390 the ship doesn't move without it, but nobody 00:00:19.390 --> 00:00:21.929 pays for a ticket to go look at the engine. Exactly. 00:00:22.109 --> 00:00:24.210 Yeah. We were talking about the NBA G League, 00:00:24.410 --> 00:00:27.030 and I think for a lot of people, even serious 00:00:27.030 --> 00:00:29.510 basketball fans who watch the NBA every night, 00:00:29.710 --> 00:00:32.450 this league is sort of a blind spot. It's this 00:00:32.450 --> 00:00:35.789 mysterious holding pattern where players just 00:00:35.789 --> 00:00:39.009 disappear to. And if they're lucky, they reappear 00:00:39.009 --> 00:00:42.140 later with a better jump shot. Right. It's historically 00:00:42.140 --> 00:00:45.359 been viewed as the island of misfit toys, a place 00:00:45.359 --> 00:00:47.399 for guys who weren't quite fast enough or tall 00:00:47.399 --> 00:00:50.359 enough or skilled enough for the big time. Yeah, 00:00:50.420 --> 00:00:52.979 the almosts. The almosts. But if you actually 00:00:52.979 --> 00:00:55.380 look at the mechanics of the modern NBA, how 00:00:55.380 --> 00:00:58.380 rosters are built, how money is spent, how the 00:00:58.380 --> 00:01:00.960 game is actually played, you can't understand 00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:02.960 any of it without understanding the G League. 00:01:03.119 --> 00:01:07.010 It's the R &D lab. It is the R &D lab. It's the 00:01:07.010 --> 00:01:09.909 testing ground for players, for coaches, for 00:01:09.909 --> 00:01:12.569 referees, and, you know, even for the rules of 00:01:12.569 --> 00:01:15.549 the game itself. And honestly, the story of how 00:01:15.549 --> 00:01:18.060 it got here. I mean, from a tiny experiment in 00:01:18.060 --> 00:01:21.400 the South to a global operation, it's a crash 00:01:21.400 --> 00:01:24.000 course in the business of modern sports. So before 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:26.500 we get into the weeds of contracts and call -ups, 00:01:26.599 --> 00:01:28.659 let's start with the branding, because this is 00:01:28.659 --> 00:01:31.920 the first clue that this isn't your grandfather's 00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:34.280 minor league. If you've been watching hoops for 00:01:34.280 --> 00:01:36.579 20 years, you know this wasn't always the G League. 00:01:36.780 --> 00:01:38.859 No, not at all. And the name change is actually 00:01:38.859 --> 00:01:41.579 a massive piece of sports business trivia. Right. 00:01:41.739 --> 00:01:44.840 We are so used to stadiums being named after 00:01:44.840 --> 00:01:46.859 banks. or airlines. It's just background noise 00:01:46.859 --> 00:01:50.760 now. But in 2017, this became the first U .S. 00:01:50.760 --> 00:01:52.719 professional sports league to be named entirely 00:01:52.719 --> 00:01:55.939 after an advertiser. G stands for Gatorade. It 00:01:55.939 --> 00:01:58.900 stands for Gatorade. It went from the pretty 00:01:58.900 --> 00:02:02.239 generic development league or D -League to a 00:02:02.239 --> 00:02:04.879 fully branded property. And that matters. It 00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:07.099 really does. It signals that this isn't just 00:02:07.099 --> 00:02:09.219 some charity project for the NBA anymore. No, 00:02:09.240 --> 00:02:11.340 it's a real asset. It's a commercial asset. It 00:02:11.340 --> 00:02:13.969 has a corporate identity. Which is wild. When 00:02:13.969 --> 00:02:15.889 you think about it, the Gatorade League. Yeah. 00:02:16.069 --> 00:02:18.189 But we've all just accepted it as the G League 00:02:18.189 --> 00:02:20.889 now. It just it flows. It does. And it speaks 00:02:20.889 --> 00:02:23.050 to the partnership. I mean, Gatorade is about 00:02:23.050 --> 00:02:25.530 fuel and performance. The league is about development 00:02:25.530 --> 00:02:28.090 and performance. It's a synergy that actually, 00:02:28.169 --> 00:02:30.710 you know, it makes sense, unlike some stadium 00:02:30.710 --> 00:02:33.229 names we could mention. For sure. Yeah. So lay 00:02:33.229 --> 00:02:35.289 out the map for us. What are we looking at today 00:02:35.289 --> 00:02:37.870 in terms of scale? Because I think people still 00:02:37.870 --> 00:02:40.490 imagine this as like. six teams playing in high 00:02:40.490 --> 00:02:42.770 school gyms it is so far from that now today 00:02:42.770 --> 00:02:48.210 we have 31 teams 31 31 that is nearly a one -to 00:02:48.210 --> 00:02:51.590 -one ratio with the nba which has 30 teams you've 00:02:51.590 --> 00:02:54.169 got 29 franchises in the united states stretching 00:02:54.169 --> 00:02:56.710 from maine all the way to california wow then 00:02:56.710 --> 00:02:59.310 you have the raptors 905 up in canada and then 00:02:59.310 --> 00:03:02.189 the fascinating outlier the mexico city capitanes 00:03:02.189 --> 00:03:04.409 exactly we are looking at a league that has stretched 00:03:04.409 --> 00:03:07.289 its tentacles across the entire continent but 00:03:07.289 --> 00:03:09.389 to appreciate that scale you have to realize 00:03:09.389 --> 00:03:12.550 how humble the beginnings were. I mean, in 2001, 00:03:12.729 --> 00:03:15.110 this thing was barely a blip on the radar. And 00:03:15.110 --> 00:03:17.370 this brings us to the mission of the deep dive 00:03:17.370 --> 00:03:20.009 today. We want to understand how a tiny league 00:03:20.009 --> 00:03:23.110 of eight teams in the southeastern U .S. evolved 00:03:23.110 --> 00:03:26.169 into this massive international R &D lab for 00:03:26.169 --> 00:03:28.650 the NBA. And how it works for the players. Right. 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:31.219 and exactly how it acts as a shortcut or maybe 00:03:31.219 --> 00:03:34.159 a detour to the big leagues for players. Yeah, 00:03:34.240 --> 00:03:35.819 we want to peel back the curtain on the mechanics. 00:03:36.300 --> 00:03:40.120 How does a player go from making, say, $35 ,000 00:03:40.120 --> 00:03:43.960 in a small town to guarding LeBron James on national 00:03:43.960 --> 00:03:46.419 TV? What does that journey actually look like? 00:03:46.580 --> 00:03:50.039 So let's go back, section one of our story, the 00:03:50.039 --> 00:03:53.759 origin, the NBDL. The National Basketball Development 00:03:53.759 --> 00:03:55.719 League. This feels like ancient history now, 00:03:55.780 --> 00:03:57.780 doesn't it? It really does. I was looking at 00:03:57.780 --> 00:04:00.919 the original press releases from June 2000. David 00:04:00.919 --> 00:04:03.099 Stern, the commissioner at the time, and Russ 00:04:03.099 --> 00:04:05.620 Granik, his deputy, they lay out this plan. And 00:04:05.620 --> 00:04:07.800 the context here is so important. It's everything. 00:04:08.020 --> 00:04:10.719 The NBA had been trying to buy the CBA, the Continental 00:04:10.719 --> 00:04:12.819 Basketball Association. Right. For those who 00:04:12.819 --> 00:04:15.060 don't know, the CBA had been the de facto minor 00:04:15.060 --> 00:04:18.319 league for decades. It was gritty. It was wild. 00:04:18.480 --> 00:04:21.000 The real proving ground. It was. Phil Jackson 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:23.620 coached there. George Carl coached there. It 00:04:23.620 --> 00:04:25.980 was where you went to cut your teeth. The NBA 00:04:25.980 --> 00:04:28.600 tried to buy it in early 2000 to bring it in 00:04:28.600 --> 00:04:30.740 -house to formalize that relationship. But the 00:04:30.740 --> 00:04:33.180 deal fell through. The CBA owners just said no. 00:04:33.339 --> 00:04:35.360 They rejected the offer. They thought the NBA 00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:37.720 was low -balling them, trying to take their league 00:04:37.720 --> 00:04:40.660 for cheap. So Stern pulls a classic David Stern 00:04:40.660 --> 00:04:43.339 move and says, fine, we'll build our own. Yeah, 00:04:43.339 --> 00:04:45.240 exactly. We will do it ourselves and we will 00:04:45.240 --> 00:04:48.860 do it our way. But their way in 2001 was, well... 00:04:48.970 --> 00:04:51.629 was odd. Very odd. How so? They launched with 00:04:51.629 --> 00:04:54.470 just eight teams and they were all huddled together 00:04:54.470 --> 00:04:57.050 in the southeastern United States. The geography 00:04:57.050 --> 00:05:00.470 is so specific. Virginia, the Carolinas, Alabama, 00:05:00.790 --> 00:05:03.389 Georgia. Why there? Why not spread them out? 00:05:03.569 --> 00:05:06.029 It was an experiment in pure efficiency. They 00:05:06.029 --> 00:05:08.610 wanted to keep travel costs rock bottom. The 00:05:08.610 --> 00:05:10.629 bus league. A bus league. That's the perfect 00:05:10.629 --> 00:05:13.129 term for it. They wanted to bus teams between 00:05:13.129 --> 00:05:16.689 games instead of flying. If you put all the teams 00:05:16.689 --> 00:05:19.310 within a six -hour drive of each other, you save 00:05:19.310 --> 00:05:22.149 a fortune on airfare and hotels. It was a shoestring 00:05:22.149 --> 00:05:25.329 budget. But the branding. We have to talk about 00:05:25.329 --> 00:05:28.730 the branding. The team names from that 2001 season 00:05:28.730 --> 00:05:31.069 are just incredible. They sound like created 00:05:31.069 --> 00:05:33.250 teams in a video game. Oh, they are spectacular. 00:05:33.810 --> 00:05:35.949 The first ever champions were the Greenville 00:05:35.949 --> 00:05:38.709 Groove. The Greenville Groove, based in South 00:05:38.709 --> 00:05:41.170 Carolina. Just roll off the tongue. And they 00:05:41.170 --> 00:05:44.189 defeated the North Charleston Logators. Logators 00:05:44.189 --> 00:05:46.149 is actually a pretty cool name referencing the 00:05:46.149 --> 00:05:48.290 Lowcountry region. I'll give them that one. Okay, 00:05:48.329 --> 00:05:51.870 that one gets a pass. But then you had the Mobile 00:05:51.870 --> 00:05:55.569 Revelers, the Fayetteville Patriots. All very, 00:05:55.730 --> 00:05:59.149 you know, generic early 2000s sports branding. 00:05:59.230 --> 00:06:01.819 And my personal favorite. The Roanoke Dazzle. 00:06:01.860 --> 00:06:04.279 The Roanoke Dazzle. It sounds like a bad magic 00:06:04.279 --> 00:06:06.839 show at a casino. And now for your halftime entertainment, 00:06:07.199 --> 00:06:10.259 The Great Dazzle. It does. But that was the vibe. 00:06:10.300 --> 00:06:12.319 It was small town family entertainment. They 00:06:12.319 --> 00:06:15.550 were trying to sell tickets for... $10, $15 a 00:06:15.550 --> 00:06:17.870 pop. So what was the in -arena experience actually 00:06:17.870 --> 00:06:20.089 like? It was. Well, it was minor league. They 00:06:20.089 --> 00:06:22.810 tried to package it as a single entity. All the 00:06:22.810 --> 00:06:24.850 uniforms looked the same, just with different 00:06:24.850 --> 00:06:27.949 colors and logos. They had the NBDL logo plastered 00:06:27.949 --> 00:06:29.889 everywhere. They did have a TV deal, though, 00:06:29.930 --> 00:06:32.589 right? They did, which was huge for a startup 00:06:32.589 --> 00:06:35.629 minor league. A deal with ESPN, too. So there 00:06:35.629 --> 00:06:37.589 was some national exposure, but the in -arena 00:06:37.589 --> 00:06:40.970 experience is tough. What were the numbers like? 00:06:41.209 --> 00:06:44.180 Did you see any attendance figures? The attendance 00:06:44.180 --> 00:06:48.639 was brutal. They averaged about 1 ,640 fans per 00:06:48.639 --> 00:06:51.779 game that first year. Oof. The NBA expected more. 00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:54.480 But you have to put yourself in the shoes of 00:06:54.480 --> 00:06:57.860 a fan in Fayetteville in 2002. The players are 00:06:57.860 --> 00:06:59.779 guys you've never heard of. They are 20 years 00:06:59.779 --> 00:07:03.040 old. The connection to the NBA felt very, very 00:07:03.040 --> 00:07:05.180 distant. It wasn't like today where you see a 00:07:05.180 --> 00:07:06.860 guy in the G League and think... He might be 00:07:06.860 --> 00:07:08.660 on the Lakers next week. Not at all. It felt 00:07:08.660 --> 00:07:11.699 like a completely separate ecosystem, a walled 00:07:11.699 --> 00:07:13.100 garden. You didn't feel like you were watching 00:07:13.100 --> 00:07:14.519 future stars. You felt like you were watching 00:07:14.519 --> 00:07:16.660 guys that couldn't make it. A league of consolation 00:07:16.660 --> 00:07:18.740 prizes. That's a good way to put it. But even 00:07:18.740 --> 00:07:20.800 then, the proof of concept worked. The talent 00:07:20.800 --> 00:07:22.779 was there. You just had to squint to see it. 00:07:22.899 --> 00:07:25.660 And we had Chris Anderson, the Birdman. The Birdman. 00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:29.160 The Mohawk and the tattoos. Before the Mohawk, 00:07:29.160 --> 00:07:31.220 actually, he was very fresh -faced back then. 00:07:31.480 --> 00:07:34.040 But he was the first player drafted by an NBDL 00:07:34.040 --> 00:07:36.759 team to get called up to the NBA. He went to 00:07:36.759 --> 00:07:39.699 the Denver Nuggets. And he had a long, very successful 00:07:39.699 --> 00:07:42.180 career. He won a ring with Miami. A very good 00:07:42.180 --> 00:07:44.759 career. So the scouts knew the talent was there. 00:07:44.959 --> 00:07:47.639 The business model just wasn't working. The fans 00:07:47.639 --> 00:07:51.100 weren't coming. So that leads us to 2005, the 00:07:51.100 --> 00:07:54.279 first pivot. They dropped the National, and it 00:07:54.279 --> 00:07:57.199 becomes the D -League. This was a pure branding 00:07:57.199 --> 00:08:00.959 strategy. Put NBA front and center. NBA Development 00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:03.620 League. To make that connection explicit. Exactly. 00:08:03.899 --> 00:08:06.500 They wanted fans to know this wasn't the CBA. 00:08:06.680 --> 00:08:09.899 This was the NBA's little brother. It was an 00:08:09.899 --> 00:08:11.959 attempt to borrow credibility from the parent 00:08:11.959 --> 00:08:14.120 brand. And this is where the map starts to just 00:08:14.120 --> 00:08:16.399 explode. The Southeastern strategy goes right 00:08:16.399 --> 00:08:18.360 out the window. Completely. This is the Wild 00:08:18.360 --> 00:08:21.060 West era of the league. You had private ownership 00:08:21.060 --> 00:08:23.379 groups coming in and seeing an opportunity. Like 00:08:23.379 --> 00:08:25.699 who? There was a group called Southwest Basketball, 00:08:25.720 --> 00:08:28.569 LLC. They bought up these struggling franchises 00:08:28.569 --> 00:08:30.589 in the South and moved them to where the money 00:08:30.589 --> 00:08:33.049 was or where they thought the money was. So they're 00:08:33.049 --> 00:08:35.330 leaving the Carolinas in? They went to Albuquerque. 00:08:35.330 --> 00:08:38.009 They went to Austin. They went to Bakersfield, 00:08:38.110 --> 00:08:40.690 California. The league started chasing markets 00:08:40.690 --> 00:08:42.830 rather than just bus rats. And what happened 00:08:42.830 --> 00:08:44.769 to the original teams? They were the casualties. 00:08:44.970 --> 00:08:47.590 The Roanoke Dazzle, the Fayetteville Patriots. 00:08:47.850 --> 00:08:51.110 They folded. The league abandoned the region 00:08:51.110 --> 00:08:53.909 that birthed it. It was pretty ruthless. It sounds 00:08:53.909 --> 00:08:57.000 chaotic. Teams popping up, moving, folding. It 00:08:57.000 --> 00:08:59.179 sounds like a startup that hasn't found its product 00:08:59.179 --> 00:09:01.340 market fit yet. That is exactly what it was. 00:09:01.379 --> 00:09:04.759 It was volatile. But in 2006, amidst all that 00:09:04.759 --> 00:09:07.440 chaos, something happened that I would argue 00:09:07.440 --> 00:09:09.480 is the most important structural moment in the 00:09:09.480 --> 00:09:11.620 league's history. The Lakers. The Los Angeles 00:09:11.620 --> 00:09:15.100 Lakers bought a team. The Defenders. That's right. 00:09:15.179 --> 00:09:18.299 Now known as the South Bay Lakers. But at the 00:09:18.299 --> 00:09:21.240 time, this was radical. Before this, you had 00:09:21.240 --> 00:09:24.500 league -operated teams or independent local owners. 00:09:24.840 --> 00:09:27.399 The Lakers were the first NBA franchise to say, 00:09:27.500 --> 00:09:30.620 no, we are going to buy our own minor league 00:09:30.620 --> 00:09:32.980 affiliate and we are going to run it from top 00:09:32.980 --> 00:09:34.940 to bottom. Why was that such a big deal? Why 00:09:34.940 --> 00:09:37.399 didn't every team just do that immediately? Money. 00:09:37.759 --> 00:09:40.799 Pure and simple. It's expensive to run a basketball 00:09:40.799 --> 00:09:44.019 team that loses money. And make no mistake, G 00:09:44.019 --> 00:09:45.980 League teams generally aren't printing cash. 00:09:46.240 --> 00:09:48.279 They're a line item in the expense column. They 00:09:48.279 --> 00:09:50.559 are cost centers. The Lakers have deep pockets 00:09:50.559 --> 00:09:53.340 so they could afford it. But for a team like 00:09:53.340 --> 00:09:55.460 the Milwaukee Bucks or the Indiana Pacers back 00:09:55.460 --> 00:09:58.159 then, dropping a few million on a minor league 00:09:58.159 --> 00:10:00.840 team wasn't an easy sell to ownership. So you 00:10:00.840 --> 00:10:03.879 had this gap. You had NBA teams who wanted the 00:10:03.879 --> 00:10:05.899 control the Lakers had. They wanted to develop 00:10:05.899 --> 00:10:08.639 their own guys and their own system, but they 00:10:08.639 --> 00:10:11.440 didn't want to buy the cow. Precisely. And that. 00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:14.759 Tension, that problem, led to the second big 00:10:14.759 --> 00:10:17.899 pivot, which brings us to section two, the structural 00:10:17.899 --> 00:10:19.940 revolution. This is where we talk about the hybrid 00:10:19.940 --> 00:10:21.820 model. It sounds like a business school case 00:10:21.820 --> 00:10:23.980 study, but it really did save the league, didn't 00:10:23.980 --> 00:10:26.100 it? It really is. It stabilized everything. The 00:10:26.100 --> 00:10:28.820 breakthrough came in 2009 with the Houston Rockets. 00:10:28.840 --> 00:10:31.620 Of course it's the Rockets. Of course. Particularly 00:10:31.620 --> 00:10:33.799 under Daryl Morey at the time, they were the 00:10:33.799 --> 00:10:36.200 kings of efficiency and analytics. They wanted 00:10:36.200 --> 00:10:38.399 to control all the variables. They wanted their 00:10:38.399 --> 00:10:40.860 G League team to play exactly like the Rockets. 00:10:41.100 --> 00:10:43.879 Shoot threes, layups only, switch everything 00:10:43.879 --> 00:10:46.779 on defense, a perfect replica. Right. They wanted 00:10:46.779 --> 00:10:49.169 to mandate the style of play. But they didn't 00:10:49.169 --> 00:10:51.129 want to run the ticket sales in the Rio Grande 00:10:51.129 --> 00:10:53.649 Valley. They didn't want to deal with local sponsorships 00:10:53.649 --> 00:10:56.350 or paying the janitors at the arena. They wanted 00:10:56.350 --> 00:10:59.970 the lab, not the business. Exactly. So they struck 00:10:59.970 --> 00:11:02.429 a deal with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. It's 00:11:02.429 --> 00:11:04.970 called a single affiliation partnership, the 00:11:04.970 --> 00:11:07.090 hybrid model. OK, so break down the division 00:11:07.090 --> 00:11:09.450 of labor there, because this is the secret sauce. 00:11:10.039 --> 00:11:12.600 It's brilliant. The local owners in Texas run 00:11:12.600 --> 00:11:15.120 the business side. They sell the hot dogs. They 00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:17.639 book the halftime acts. They sell the local sponsorships 00:11:17.639 --> 00:11:19.779 and they pay the arena rent. They keep whatever 00:11:19.779 --> 00:11:22.409 profit comes from that. OK. And the Rockets. 00:11:22.529 --> 00:11:25.009 The Rockets run the basketball, period. They 00:11:25.009 --> 00:11:27.389 hire the coaches. They sign the players. They 00:11:27.389 --> 00:11:29.250 dictate the offensive and defensive schemes. 00:11:29.450 --> 00:11:32.330 They pay for all the basketball operations. So 00:11:32.330 --> 00:11:34.710 it's the best of both worlds. The Rockets get 00:11:34.710 --> 00:11:36.529 a laboratory without the overhead of running 00:11:36.529 --> 00:11:39.590 a local business. And the local owners get a 00:11:39.590 --> 00:11:41.929 product that is directly tied to an NBA team. 00:11:42.250 --> 00:11:44.429 Right, which helps sell tickets because you can 00:11:44.429 --> 00:11:46.830 market the connection. Come see the future Houston 00:11:46.830 --> 00:11:49.610 Rockets. It was a win -win. It solved the financial 00:11:49.610 --> 00:11:52.909 hurdle. It did. And once the Rockets proved it 00:11:52.909 --> 00:11:55.710 worked, and boy, did it work, the Vipers were 00:11:55.710 --> 00:11:59.210 a powerhouse. The floodgates opened. You saw 00:11:59.210 --> 00:12:01.690 the Nets, the Knicks, the Blazers, all these 00:12:01.690 --> 00:12:04.110 other teams scrambling for these hybrid deals. 00:12:04.289 --> 00:12:06.649 Well, this model allowed the NBA team to control 00:12:06.649 --> 00:12:09.350 the development without having to buy the franchise 00:12:09.350 --> 00:12:12.179 outright. Exactly. You solved a problem that 00:12:12.179 --> 00:12:14.179 I think a lot of fans don't realize existed, 00:12:14.519 --> 00:12:16.860 the sharing nightmare. Well, the sharing era 00:12:16.860 --> 00:12:19.120 was a disaster, right? A complete disaster for 00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:22.059 actual development. Before this one -to -one 00:12:22.059 --> 00:12:25.639 affiliation became the norm, you had shared affiliates. 00:12:25.820 --> 00:12:28.940 So walk me through that. So imagine you are the 00:12:28.940 --> 00:12:31.360 Fort Wayne Mad Ants. And on your roster, you've 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:33.620 got a point guard sent down by the Detroit Pistons, 00:12:33.720 --> 00:12:36.379 a center sent down by the Milwaukee Bucks, and 00:12:36.379 --> 00:12:39.019 a winger sent down by the Indiana Pacers. And 00:12:39.019 --> 00:12:41.080 the coach is just stuck in the middle of all 00:12:41.080 --> 00:12:43.950 that. The coach is pulling his hair out. The 00:12:43.950 --> 00:12:46.169 Pistons are calling him, saying they want their 00:12:46.169 --> 00:12:48.429 point guard to run 100 pick and rolls a game. 00:12:48.809 --> 00:12:51.230 The Bucks call and say they want their big man 00:12:51.230 --> 00:12:54.250 to work on post -ups. The Pacers want their guy 00:12:54.250 --> 00:12:56.769 to practice shooting corner threes. The schemes 00:12:56.769 --> 00:12:59.029 completely clash. You can't build a culture. 00:12:59.230 --> 00:13:01.649 You can't build a system. You can't. The coach 00:13:01.649 --> 00:13:04.169 serves three masters, which means he serves none 00:13:04.169 --> 00:13:07.220 of them. His only job is to give everyone minutes 00:13:07.220 --> 00:13:09.620 and hope nobody gets hurt. It's babysitting, 00:13:09.659 --> 00:13:12.320 not development. Exactly. But the hybrid model 00:13:12.320 --> 00:13:15.659 killed that. And by 2015, the Indiana Pacers 00:13:15.659 --> 00:13:18.419 bought the Mad Ants, who were the last independent 00:13:18.419 --> 00:13:20.960 holdout. And that was it. The era of sharing 00:13:20.960 --> 00:13:24.120 was over. We moved to a rigid, one -to -one structure. 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:27.799 Every NBA team has its partner. And that changed 00:13:27.799 --> 00:13:29.940 the geography again, didn't it? Because once 00:13:29.940 --> 00:13:32.279 you own the team or you control the basketball 00:13:32.279 --> 00:13:34.820 operations, you don't want them in South Dakota 00:13:34.820 --> 00:13:37.600 if you play in Miami. Logistics became king. 00:13:37.820 --> 00:13:39.919 It was no longer about saving money on travel 00:13:39.919 --> 00:13:41.600 for the whole league. It was about efficiency 00:13:41.600 --> 00:13:44.460 for one organization. Right. If you need a player 00:13:44.460 --> 00:13:47.220 for a Tuesday night game because your starter 00:13:47.220 --> 00:13:49.210 rolled an ankle at shoot around. You need him 00:13:49.210 --> 00:13:51.289 now. You need him now. You don't want him taking 00:13:51.289 --> 00:13:53.490 three connecting flights and showing up exhausted 00:13:53.490 --> 00:13:56.190 two hours before tip -off. So we saw the great 00:13:56.190 --> 00:13:58.590 migration. The great migration is a perfect way 00:13:58.590 --> 00:14:01.049 to put it. The New Jersey Nets, when they moved 00:14:01.049 --> 00:14:03.649 to Brooklyn, they eventually moved their affiliate 00:14:03.649 --> 00:14:07.549 to Long Island. Close by. The Phoenix Suns bought 00:14:07.549 --> 00:14:10.529 the Bakersfield Jam and moved them to Prescott 00:14:10.529 --> 00:14:13.970 Valley, Arizona. The Utah Jazz moved their team 00:14:13.970 --> 00:14:17.580 from Idaho. all the way down to Salt Lake City. 00:14:17.700 --> 00:14:20.039 Literally in the same city. Right. It turned 00:14:20.039 --> 00:14:22.940 the league into a true localized farm system, 00:14:23.039 --> 00:14:25.899 very similar to what baseball has with its AAA 00:14:25.899 --> 00:14:28.720 teams, but often even tighter geographically. 00:14:28.799 --> 00:14:30.480 It's all about creating a seamless transition. 00:14:30.759 --> 00:14:32.460 You want the player to be able to just drive 00:14:32.460 --> 00:14:34.440 down the highway, not fly across the country. 00:14:34.730 --> 00:14:37.289 Right. It reinforces the idea that you are part 00:14:37.289 --> 00:14:39.169 of the family. You're just down the road. You're 00:14:39.169 --> 00:14:41.629 not in exile. So we've built the machine. We 00:14:41.629 --> 00:14:43.529 have the teams. We have the owners. We have the 00:14:43.529 --> 00:14:46.309 locations. Now let's look at the actual product, 00:14:46.549 --> 00:14:49.350 the player. The talent. This is section three. 00:14:49.929 --> 00:14:52.929 How does a player actually exist in this world? 00:14:53.110 --> 00:14:55.070 Yeah. If I'm a player, how do I actually get 00:14:55.070 --> 00:14:57.549 here? And more importantly, what is my life like? 00:14:58.240 --> 00:15:00.320 Because I think people hear pro basketball and 00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:02.039 they think private jets and Ritz -Carlton's. 00:15:02.080 --> 00:15:05.399 That is not the G League reality. Not even close. 00:15:05.779 --> 00:15:09.120 Let's talk numbers. If I am just a standard G 00:15:09.120 --> 00:15:12.399 League player, not on an NBA deal, just a guy 00:15:12.399 --> 00:15:14.580 who made the team from a tryout or the G League 00:15:14.580 --> 00:15:17.720 draft, what am I making? The base salary is around 00:15:17.720 --> 00:15:21.039 $35 ,000 for the season. 35 grand. I mean, you 00:15:21.039 --> 00:15:23.500 can make more managing a fast food franchise. 00:15:23.720 --> 00:15:26.120 You can make more driving Uber full time in some 00:15:26.120 --> 00:15:28.320 cities. You absolutely can. Now, to be fair, 00:15:28.419 --> 00:15:30.019 the season is shorter. It's about six months 00:15:30.019 --> 00:15:32.700 long and they do get housing provided and insurance 00:15:32.700 --> 00:15:36.299 benefits. But it is a grind, a serious grind. 00:15:36.559 --> 00:15:38.539 What's the travel like? You are flying commercial 00:15:38.539 --> 00:15:40.940 middle seat and coach. You are staying in basic 00:15:40.940 --> 00:15:43.559 hotels. You are often sharing rooms with a teammate. 00:15:43.779 --> 00:15:46.159 You are playing for the love of the game and 00:15:46.159 --> 00:15:48.179 the hope of a lottery ticket. And that lottery 00:15:48.179 --> 00:15:51.490 ticket is. Right. The call -up. If you get called 00:15:51.490 --> 00:15:54.169 up to the NBA, even for a 10 -day contract, the 00:15:54.169 --> 00:15:57.009 money changes instantly. A 10 -day contract can 00:15:57.009 --> 00:15:59.230 be worth more than your entire G League salary. 00:15:59.629 --> 00:16:01.389 And there are bonuses in the G League contracts 00:16:01.389 --> 00:16:03.350 now, right? Yeah, they've added incentives. You 00:16:03.350 --> 00:16:06.230 can earn up to $50 ,000 extra depending on call 00:16:06.230 --> 00:16:08.840 -ups and other performance metrics. But the real 00:16:08.840 --> 00:16:11.340 revolution for the players, the thing that changed 00:16:11.340 --> 00:16:14.299 everything, came in 2017 with the two -way contract. 00:16:14.720 --> 00:16:16.779 This is a term we hear constantly on broadcast 00:16:16.779 --> 00:16:19.899 now. Oh, he's on a two -way. But explain the 00:16:19.899 --> 00:16:21.980 mechanics. Why was this such a game changer? 00:16:22.200 --> 00:16:25.240 Before 2017, you were either an NBA player or 00:16:25.240 --> 00:16:27.700 a G League player. There was a hard wall between 00:16:27.700 --> 00:16:30.679 the two. If an NBA team wanted to keep you... 00:16:30.889 --> 00:16:33.250 They had to use one of their precious 15 roster 00:16:33.250 --> 00:16:35.470 spots. Teams are very protective of those spots. 00:16:35.649 --> 00:16:38.149 Very. So a lot of good, young, developmental 00:16:38.149 --> 00:16:40.570 guys would get cut. The two -way contract put 00:16:40.570 --> 00:16:43.309 a door in that wall. No, sir. An NBA team can 00:16:43.309 --> 00:16:45.509 now sign up to three players on these special 00:16:45.509 --> 00:16:48.190 deals. These players officially belong to the 00:16:48.190 --> 00:16:50.269 NBA team, but they spend the bulk of their time 00:16:50.269 --> 00:16:52.009 playing for the G League affiliate. But they 00:16:52.009 --> 00:16:54.870 can come up. They can float. They can be active 00:16:54.870 --> 00:16:57.970 on the NBA roster for up to 50 games during the 00:16:57.970 --> 00:17:00.529 regular season. Originally, it was 45 days. The 00:17:00.529 --> 00:17:02.990 rules have tweaked a bit, but basically they 00:17:02.990 --> 00:17:05.250 can float back and forth as needed. And the money. 00:17:05.470 --> 00:17:08.430 It's a massive jump. A two -way player earns 00:17:08.430 --> 00:17:10.670 a flat salary that's half of the rookie minimum. 00:17:10.869 --> 00:17:12.930 So for the current season, we're talking about 00:17:12.930 --> 00:17:17.250 a little over $550 ,000. So instead of $35 ,000, 00:17:17.410 --> 00:17:19.670 you are making half a million dollars. That changes 00:17:19.670 --> 00:17:21.950 your life. It's a different stratosphere. It 00:17:21.950 --> 00:17:25.390 keeps talent in the ecosystem. Before this, if 00:17:25.390 --> 00:17:28.190 you were a borderline NBA player, a really good 00:17:28.190 --> 00:17:30.910 one, you'd go to Europe. You'd go to Turkey or 00:17:30.910 --> 00:17:34.089 Spain or China where you could make $200 ,000 00:17:34.089 --> 00:17:38.069 or $300 ,000 tax -free. The NBA was losing that 00:17:38.069 --> 00:17:39.809 depth. Right. They were developing talent for 00:17:39.809 --> 00:17:42.089 other leagues. The two -way contract allows the 00:17:42.089 --> 00:17:44.029 NBA to pay enough to keep those guys in North 00:17:44.029 --> 00:17:46.089 America just a phone call away from the big club. 00:17:46.289 --> 00:17:48.230 It's asset retention. It's just smart business. 00:17:48.609 --> 00:17:51.349 100%. Now, we have to talk about the Ignite experiment 00:17:51.349 --> 00:17:55.349 because for a few years there, it really felt 00:17:55.349 --> 00:17:57.210 like the G League was trying to go to war with 00:17:57.210 --> 00:18:00.039 the NCAA. It was a very aggressive move. We're 00:18:00.039 --> 00:18:03.819 talking 2019, 2020. The one and done rule in 00:18:03.819 --> 00:18:05.599 college was, you know, highly controversial. 00:18:05.980 --> 00:18:08.279 Forcing top players to go to college for a year 00:18:08.279 --> 00:18:10.400 when they were clearly ready for the pros. Right. 00:18:10.519 --> 00:18:13.339 You had these elite high school players who didn't 00:18:13.339 --> 00:18:15.200 want to go to Biology 101. They wanted to be 00:18:15.200 --> 00:18:17.200 pros. They were physically ready. But the rule 00:18:17.200 --> 00:18:19.440 said they couldn't go to the NBA for one more 00:18:19.440 --> 00:18:22.400 year. So the G League said, come here, we'll 00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:24.599 pay you. They introduced something called select 00:18:24.599 --> 00:18:28.799 contracts, a base salary of $125 ,000. But it 00:18:28.799 --> 00:18:31.079 was reported that top stars like Jalen Green 00:18:31.079 --> 00:18:33.900 or Scoot Henderson got significantly more, maybe 00:18:33.900 --> 00:18:36.119 close to a million dollars. And they created 00:18:36.119 --> 00:18:38.359 a special team for them, right? The G League 00:18:38.359 --> 00:18:41.369 Ignite. Yes, based in Nevada. And this team was 00:18:41.369 --> 00:18:43.890 weird. It wasn't affiliated with the Knicks or 00:18:43.890 --> 00:18:46.289 the Lakers or anyone. It was a league -owned 00:18:46.289 --> 00:18:48.890 team. Right. Their sole purpose was to prepare 00:18:48.890 --> 00:18:51.509 these teenagers for the NBA draft. They were 00:18:51.509 --> 00:18:54.130 surrounded by veteran pros who acted as mentors, 00:18:54.190 --> 00:18:56.529 but the focus was entirely on developing the 00:18:56.529 --> 00:18:59.730 kids. No pressure to win games, just get better. 00:18:59.890 --> 00:19:03.230 And on paper, it sounded perfect. Jalen Green 00:19:03.230 --> 00:19:07.210 goes, nah, two overall. Jonathan Kaminga goes 00:19:07.210 --> 00:19:10.390 in the lottery. It worked. It did work mechanically. 00:19:10.450 --> 00:19:12.470 It produced high level draft picks. It proved 00:19:12.470 --> 00:19:15.109 you could bypass college and still succeed. But 00:19:15.109 --> 00:19:17.829 then the world changed. NIL. Name, image, and 00:19:17.829 --> 00:19:19.690 likeness. All of a sudden, college athletes could 00:19:19.690 --> 00:19:22.400 get paid. And not just a little bit of pocket 00:19:22.400 --> 00:19:25.599 money. No. If you are a top recruit, a guy who 00:19:25.599 --> 00:19:27.880 would have considered Ignite, you can now go 00:19:27.880 --> 00:19:30.759 to Duke or Kentucky, play on national TV every 00:19:30.759 --> 00:19:33.039 single night, be a campus hero, play in front 00:19:33.039 --> 00:19:35.859 of 20 ,000 screaming fans, and make a million 00:19:35.859 --> 00:19:38.220 dollars or more in endorsements. Compare that 00:19:38.220 --> 00:19:40.460 to playing in an empty gym in Nevada for the 00:19:40.460 --> 00:19:43.839 Ignite. Exactly. The G League's salary, even 00:19:43.839 --> 00:19:46.509 at half a million, suddenly looked... Less appealing. 00:19:46.730 --> 00:19:49.210 The unique value proposition just collapsed. 00:19:49.349 --> 00:19:51.910 It evaporated almost overnight. And that leads 00:19:51.910 --> 00:19:55.089 to the Ignite folding after the 2023 -24 season. 00:19:55.349 --> 00:19:57.930 It's a fascinating case study in how quickly 00:19:57.930 --> 00:20:00.670 the sports landscape shifts. The G League identified 00:20:00.670 --> 00:20:03.130 a market inefficiency unpaid labor, and they 00:20:03.130 --> 00:20:05.710 exploited it. Then the NCAA fixed that inefficiency, 00:20:05.849 --> 00:20:08.529 and the G League retreated. But they didn't retreat 00:20:08.529 --> 00:20:11.619 completely. They just pivoted back to their core 00:20:11.619 --> 00:20:14.900 competency, developing guys who were already 00:20:14.900 --> 00:20:17.819 pros or just on the cusp. Right. And that system 00:20:17.819 --> 00:20:20.279 is working better than ever. Which brings us 00:20:20.279 --> 00:20:23.180 to Section 4. Does it work? Let's look at the 00:20:23.180 --> 00:20:26.319 success stories. Because the alumni list is starting 00:20:26.319 --> 00:20:28.759 to look like an all -star team. It's not just 00:20:28.759 --> 00:20:31.140 fringe guys anymore. It really is. I think you 00:20:31.140 --> 00:20:32.880 have to start with Chris Middleton. The Milwaukee 00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:35.890 Bucks champion. Multiple -time all -star. He 00:20:35.890 --> 00:20:38.309 was a second round pick. He was traded to the 00:20:38.309 --> 00:20:40.650 books. He was sent to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants 00:20:40.650 --> 00:20:43.529 early in his career. He wasn't a superstar prospect. 00:20:43.769 --> 00:20:46.269 He had to grind. He had to learn how to be a 00:20:46.269 --> 00:20:48.809 professional scorer down there. And he did. And 00:20:48.809 --> 00:20:52.369 in 2019, he became the first G League alum to 00:20:52.369 --> 00:20:54.950 make an NBA All -Star team. That broke the glass 00:20:54.950 --> 00:20:57.349 ceiling. It sent a message to the whole league. 00:20:57.589 --> 00:20:59.569 It proved you could go down and come back stronger. 00:20:59.690 --> 00:21:01.509 It wasn't a death sentence for your career. No, 00:21:01.589 --> 00:21:03.630 it was a launch pad. And then you have Pascal 00:21:03.630 --> 00:21:06.319 Siakam. His story. is the gold standard for what 00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:08.880 the G League can be. Late start to basketball. 00:21:09.500 --> 00:21:12.500 Drafted by Toronto. Sent immediately to the Raptors 00:21:12.500 --> 00:21:15.960 905. And he didn't just play there. He dominated. 00:21:16.200 --> 00:21:18.220 He led them to a championship. He was the finals 00:21:18.220 --> 00:21:21.519 MVP of the G League. But it was the way he played 00:21:21.519 --> 00:21:23.740 that mattered. What do you mean? The Raptors 00:21:23.740 --> 00:21:26.660 905 coaches, under orders from the main club, 00:21:26.920 --> 00:21:29.380 let him do everything. They let him handle the 00:21:29.380 --> 00:21:31.420 ball like a point guard. They let him shoot threes 00:21:31.420 --> 00:21:33.279 even though he wasn't a great shooter yet. They 00:21:33.279 --> 00:21:35.400 let him make mistakes. That's the key, right? 00:21:35.819 --> 00:21:39.079 In the NBA, if a young Pascal Siakam turns the 00:21:39.079 --> 00:21:40.980 ball over twice in the first quarter trying to 00:21:40.980 --> 00:21:43.200 go coast to coast, he's benched. Immediately. 00:21:43.640 --> 00:21:46.759 In the NBA, the goal is to win tonight. In the 00:21:46.759 --> 00:21:48.660 G League, the goal is to get better for tomorrow. 00:21:49.059 --> 00:21:52.279 The Raptors' 9 -0 -5 gave him the reps to fail, 00:21:52.420 --> 00:21:55.619 to experiment, and to grow. And two years later. 00:21:55.819 --> 00:21:57.980 He's the second best player on an NBA championship 00:21:57.980 --> 00:22:00.740 team and wins most improved player. That doesn't 00:22:00.740 --> 00:22:02.839 happen without the G League. That's the R &D 00:22:02.839 --> 00:22:04.740 part we talked about. Yeah. The Raptors used 00:22:04.740 --> 00:22:07.619 the 905 not just to stash him, but to actively 00:22:07.619 --> 00:22:09.900 build him into the player they needed. Exactly. 00:22:10.019 --> 00:22:12.420 You see it with Rudy Gobert, too. The stifle 00:22:12.420 --> 00:22:14.799 tower. He's spent time with the Bakersfield Jam, 00:22:15.019 --> 00:22:17.460 working on his timing, his conditioning, his 00:22:17.460 --> 00:22:19.980 hands. Now he's a four -time defensive player 00:22:19.980 --> 00:22:22.460 of the year. And we can't forget Fred Van Vliet. 00:22:22.779 --> 00:22:26.480 Bet on yourself. The ultimate story, undrafted, 00:22:26.500 --> 00:22:29.759 grinded it out with the Raptors 905, became an 00:22:29.759 --> 00:22:32.279 NBA champion and all -star. It's reached a point 00:22:32.279 --> 00:22:34.400 now where if you look at the numbers, it's just 00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:38.759 ubiquitous. In 2011, about 23 % of NBA players 00:22:38.759 --> 00:22:40.940 had G League experience. Where are we at now? 00:22:41.259 --> 00:22:44.000 It's over 50 % on opening night rosters most 00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:46.559 years. If you include two -ways and guys who've 00:22:46.559 --> 00:22:48.460 done short stints, it's the majority of the league. 00:22:48.539 --> 00:22:50.779 It is no longer a stigma to go to the G League. 00:22:50.920 --> 00:22:53.460 It is a rite of passage. It's almost weird if 00:22:53.460 --> 00:22:55.359 you don't go down for a stint, unless you're 00:22:55.359 --> 00:22:57.700 a top five pick. Even some top picks go down 00:22:57.700 --> 00:22:59.599 for rehab assignments or just to get their rhythm 00:22:59.599 --> 00:23:02.240 back. Stephen Curry played in the G League briefly 00:23:02.240 --> 00:23:05.160 on a rehab assignment. That's wild. Imagine showing 00:23:05.160 --> 00:23:07.319 up to a Santa Cruz Warriors game and Steph Curry 00:23:07.319 --> 00:23:09.740 is warming up. It happens. Klay Thompson did 00:23:09.740 --> 00:23:11.619 it too after... injuries. It's part of the process 00:23:11.619 --> 00:23:14.660 now. I want to shift gears to Section 5, the 00:23:14.660 --> 00:23:18.500 culture. Because the G League isn't just a carbon 00:23:18.500 --> 00:23:21.400 copy of the NBA. It has its own weird energy. 00:23:21.500 --> 00:23:23.539 It feels different. It definitely does. It's 00:23:23.539 --> 00:23:25.720 grittier. There's an edge to it. The showcase. 00:23:26.579 --> 00:23:28.819 This fascinates me. Yeah. It's been described 00:23:28.819 --> 00:23:31.740 as a carnival for scouts. That's a great way 00:23:31.740 --> 00:23:33.819 to put it. It's the highest pressure job interview 00:23:33.819 --> 00:23:36.900 in sports. Started way back in 2005. The idea 00:23:36.900 --> 00:23:40.039 is efficiency. Right. Instead of an NBA GM flying 00:23:40.039 --> 00:23:42.980 to Maine on Tuesday and then Sioux Falls on Thursday, 00:23:43.460 --> 00:23:46.099 the league brings every team to one location 00:23:46.099 --> 00:23:49.000 for four days. Usually Vegas now, right? At Mandalay 00:23:49.000 --> 00:23:51.599 Bay. Mandalay Bay Convention Center. And convention 00:23:51.599 --> 00:23:53.799 center is the key word. It's not even a real 00:23:53.799 --> 00:23:56.019 arena most of the time. It's just courts set 00:23:56.019 --> 00:23:57.900 up in a massive hall. You'll have games running 00:23:57.900 --> 00:24:00.180 simultaneously on adjacent courts. And the stands. 00:24:00.650 --> 00:24:03.250 Who is watching these games? It's not fans. It's 00:24:03.250 --> 00:24:05.789 guys in polos holding iPads and notebooks. Hundreds 00:24:05.789 --> 00:24:08.430 of them. Every NBA general manager is there. 00:24:08.549 --> 00:24:11.190 Scouts from every team. Scouts from Europe. Scouts 00:24:11.190 --> 00:24:13.490 from Asia. It's a meat market. What's the sound 00:24:13.490 --> 00:24:16.569 like? The silence is unique. You don't hear a 00:24:16.569 --> 00:24:19.410 roaring crowd. You hear sneakers squeaking, coaches 00:24:19.410 --> 00:24:22.170 yelling, and the low hum of executives talking 00:24:22.170 --> 00:24:24.789 on their phones. That sounds incredibly stressful 00:24:24.789 --> 00:24:27.829 for the players. The tension is palpable. Every 00:24:27.829 --> 00:24:30.609 player on that floor knows that this is the moment. 00:24:31.000 --> 00:24:32.799 If you dunk on someone here, the right person 00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:35.720 sees it. If you play lazy defense here, you're 00:24:35.720 --> 00:24:38.819 basically unemployed. Your career can be made 00:24:38.819 --> 00:24:42.259 or broken in one 48 -minute game. And they raised 00:24:42.259 --> 00:24:44.339 the stakes recently to make it even more intense. 00:24:44.599 --> 00:24:47.720 Yeah, in 2019, they added the Showcase Cup. It's 00:24:47.720 --> 00:24:50.839 a mini -tournament with a $100 ,000 prize for 00:24:50.839 --> 00:24:53.819 the winning team. For guys making a $35 ,000 00:24:53.819 --> 00:24:57.779 salary, a share of $100K is life -changing money. 00:24:58.329 --> 00:25:00.869 That pays off the student loans. That buys a 00:25:00.869 --> 00:25:03.250 car. It turns up the intensity. It makes the 00:25:03.250 --> 00:25:05.190 games matter. It's not just an exhibition anymore. 00:25:05.289 --> 00:25:07.349 It's a dogfight. And then you have the rules. 00:25:07.650 --> 00:25:10.190 We mentioned the G League is a laboratory. What 00:25:10.190 --> 00:25:11.730 are some of the weirdest things they've tested 00:25:11.730 --> 00:25:13.829 over the years? Well, the one free throw rule 00:25:13.829 --> 00:25:15.890 is the biggest one currently. To speed up the 00:25:15.890 --> 00:25:17.650 game, if you get fouled on a two -point shot, 00:25:17.849 --> 00:25:19.930 you shoot one free throw. If you make it, it 00:25:19.930 --> 00:25:21.990 counts for two points. And on a three -pointer. 00:25:22.089 --> 00:25:25.039 One free throw. For three points. That must be 00:25:25.039 --> 00:25:27.599 terrifying for the shooter. The pressure on that 00:25:27.599 --> 00:25:30.559 one shot is immense. You miss one shot and you 00:25:30.559 --> 00:25:32.660 leave three points on the board. It changes the 00:25:32.660 --> 00:25:35.299 math completely. Yeah. And it does speed up the 00:25:35.299 --> 00:25:37.519 game because you cut out all the standing around 00:25:37.519 --> 00:25:40.000 between free throws. What else have they tried? 00:25:40.440 --> 00:25:42.619 They tested the coach's challenge before the 00:25:42.619 --> 00:25:45.180 NBA adopted it. They tested the reset timeout. 00:25:45.240 --> 00:25:48.180 They've played with a 14 -second shot clock reset 00:25:48.180 --> 00:25:51.059 on offensive rebounds. If you watch the G League, 00:25:51.140 --> 00:25:53.779 you are watching the NBA of five years from now. 00:25:53.980 --> 00:25:57.180 They even had a game of HORSE at their All -Star 00:25:57.180 --> 00:25:59.680 weekend. They did. The Dream Factory. Friday 00:25:59.680 --> 00:26:01.660 night at their All -Star weekend, they had a 00:26:01.660 --> 00:26:03.900 dunk contest, a three -point contest, and yes, 00:26:03.960 --> 00:26:07.420 a HORSE competition. Lance Allred, the first 00:26:07.420 --> 00:26:09.980 legally deaf player in NBA history, won. won 00:26:09.980 --> 00:26:12.119 the first one. It just shows that the league 00:26:12.119 --> 00:26:14.519 doesn't take itself too seriously. They are willing 00:26:14.519 --> 00:26:17.299 to try stuff. I love that. But let's get serious 00:26:17.299 --> 00:26:19.640 about the resilience of this league. We all remember 00:26:19.640 --> 00:26:22.579 the NBA bubble in Disney World. LeBron winning 00:26:22.579 --> 00:26:25.599 the ring in the empty gym. But the G League did 00:26:25.599 --> 00:26:28.839 it too. The 2021 gubble, as some people called 00:26:28.839 --> 00:26:31.339 it. The gubble. I like that. It was optional. 00:26:31.500 --> 00:26:34.119 Only 17 of the teams decided to participate and 00:26:34.119 --> 00:26:36.930 go to Disney World. But the fact that they spent 00:26:36.930 --> 00:26:38.970 the money to do it, I mean, frankly, the NBA 00:26:38.970 --> 00:26:40.970 could have just canceled the G League season. 00:26:41.089 --> 00:26:43.309 Right. It's a cost center. Nobody would have 00:26:43.309 --> 00:26:45.690 blamed them during the pandemic. But they realized 00:26:45.690 --> 00:26:48.849 they couldn't afford to stop the pipeline. They 00:26:48.849 --> 00:26:50.750 couldn't have a whole year with no development. 00:26:51.089 --> 00:26:54.089 The players needed the reps. The referees needed 00:26:54.089 --> 00:26:56.369 the reps. The coaches needed the reps. That proves 00:26:56.369 --> 00:26:58.779 the engine room thesis. You can't shut down the 00:26:58.779 --> 00:27:01.240 engine just because the ship is in a storm. Exactly. 00:27:01.259 --> 00:27:03.920 It proved how essential the league had become 00:27:03.920 --> 00:27:07.079 to the entire NBA ecosystem. So where does this 00:27:07.079 --> 00:27:10.980 engine go next? Section six, international reach 00:27:10.980 --> 00:27:13.619 and the future. We talked about the map earlier 00:27:13.619 --> 00:27:16.279 and we mentioned Mexico City. This feels like 00:27:16.279 --> 00:27:18.119 the biggest clue to the future of the league. 00:27:18.299 --> 00:27:21.539 The Mexico City Capitanes. They join in the 2021 00:27:21.539 --> 00:27:25.160 -22 season. And unlike the other teams, they 00:27:25.160 --> 00:27:27.420 are independent. They aren't owned by the Phoenix 00:27:27.420 --> 00:27:30.160 Suns or the Spurs. They're their own entity. 00:27:30.380 --> 00:27:31.839 And they aren't playing at a convention center. 00:27:32.099 --> 00:27:35.500 No. They play in the Mexico City Arena. The capacity 00:27:35.500 --> 00:27:39.779 is 22 ,300. That is bigger than the arenas in 00:27:39.779 --> 00:27:43.059 Boston, in New York, in Los Angeles. That is 00:27:43.059 --> 00:27:46.019 a full -blown NBA arena. It is. And that's the 00:27:46.019 --> 00:27:47.759 point. This isn't just about developing players. 00:27:47.880 --> 00:27:50.299 It's about developing a market. The NBA is using 00:27:50.299 --> 00:27:52.900 the G League to test the logistics of having 00:27:52.900 --> 00:27:55.380 a permanent franchise south of the border. Can 00:27:55.380 --> 00:27:58.400 the travel work? Is the high altitude a real 00:27:58.400 --> 00:28:01.039 issue for visiting teams? Do the fans show up 00:28:01.039 --> 00:28:03.440 consistently? And by all accounts, the fans are 00:28:03.440 --> 00:28:05.680 showing up. It creates a legitimate home court 00:28:05.680 --> 00:28:07.799 advantage for them. It's loud. It's passionate. 00:28:07.900 --> 00:28:10.660 They care. So it circles back to that R &D concept. 00:28:10.740 --> 00:28:13.980 But now it's market R &D. Right. If the Capitanes 00:28:13.980 --> 00:28:16.500 are a sustained success over five, six, seven 00:28:16.500 --> 00:28:19.200 years, it makes the argument for an NBA expansion 00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:21.539 team in Mexico City much, much easier to sell 00:28:21.539 --> 00:28:24.259 to the owners. And if it fails? Well, it failed 00:28:24.259 --> 00:28:26.099 in the minor leagues. The risk is managed. The 00:28:26.099 --> 00:28:29.000 parent brand, the NBA, is protected. Low stakes 00:28:29.000 --> 00:28:32.009 failure, high stakes reward. Precisely. And that's 00:28:32.009 --> 00:28:33.670 why the G League is so fascinating right now. 00:28:33.730 --> 00:28:36.809 It allows the NBA to take risks on players, on 00:28:36.809 --> 00:28:39.849 rules, on entire cities that they could never 00:28:39.849 --> 00:28:41.849 take with the main product. You can't just move 00:28:41.849 --> 00:28:43.690 the Celtics to London for a season to see if 00:28:43.690 --> 00:28:45.690 it works. You could move a G League team there. 00:28:45.769 --> 00:28:47.970 You could. And that's the door that's now open. 00:28:48.450 --> 00:28:52.049 So as we wrap this up, let's zoom out. We started 00:28:52.049 --> 00:28:54.690 with the Greenville groove playing in what was 00:28:54.690 --> 00:28:57.890 basically a high school gym. We are ending with 00:28:57.890 --> 00:29:01.490 a global league playing in 22 ,000 -seat arenas, 00:29:01.490 --> 00:29:04.769 backed by Gatorade, feeding half the NBA's workforce. 00:29:05.150 --> 00:29:07.670 It's a remarkable evolution. In 20 years, it 00:29:07.670 --> 00:29:09.789 went from a nice -to -have afterthought to a 00:29:09.789 --> 00:29:11.849 must -have pillar of the league. I think about 00:29:11.849 --> 00:29:14.170 someone like Nick Nurse. He's an NBA champion 00:29:14.170 --> 00:29:16.890 coach. He's coached superstars. Where did he 00:29:16.890 --> 00:29:19.690 cut his teeth? The G League. He coached the Iowa 00:29:19.690 --> 00:29:22.359 Energy. He coached the Rio Grande Valley Vipers 00:29:22.359 --> 00:29:24.599 to a championship. He learned how to manage personalities, 00:29:24.900 --> 00:29:27.079 how to experiment with weird lineups, how to 00:29:27.079 --> 00:29:29.980 innovate on the fly. He doesn't become Nick Nurse, 00:29:30.160 --> 00:29:32.220 the mad scientist coach, without those long bus 00:29:32.220 --> 00:29:34.359 rides in Iowa. It's the school of hard knocks, 00:29:34.519 --> 00:29:36.519 but with a corporate budget now. A corporate 00:29:36.519 --> 00:29:39.700 budget and better Gatorade flavors, yeah. So 00:29:39.700 --> 00:29:41.579 here is the final thought I want to leave you 00:29:41.579 --> 00:29:45.619 with. We've seen the G League try to replace 00:29:45.619 --> 00:29:49.170 the NCAA with the Ignite team and... For various 00:29:49.170 --> 00:29:52.049 reasons, that experiment ended. But we see them 00:29:52.049 --> 00:29:54.789 succeeding with the Mexico City experiment. Right. 00:29:54.910 --> 00:29:58.170 Is the future of the G League actually international 00:29:58.170 --> 00:30:01.549 expansion? Yeah. If the NBA wants to go to Europe, 00:30:01.650 --> 00:30:04.130 do they start with a G League division in London 00:30:04.130 --> 00:30:07.109 and Paris first? That is the multi -billion dollar 00:30:07.109 --> 00:30:09.529 question, isn't it? Adam Silver has talked about 00:30:09.529 --> 00:30:12.569 a European division for years. The G League provides 00:30:12.569 --> 00:30:15.640 the perfect vessel to test that. You don't have 00:30:15.640 --> 00:30:18.000 to launch four brand new NBA teams immediately. 00:30:18.339 --> 00:30:20.519 No, you launch G League teams. You launch G League 00:30:20.519 --> 00:30:22.660 teams. You test the waters. You learn the travel 00:30:22.660 --> 00:30:24.740 logistics. You see if the fans will support it. 00:30:24.839 --> 00:30:27.359 A G League Euro division. It makes total sense. 00:30:27.480 --> 00:30:29.539 You build the infrastructure. You build the fan 00:30:29.539 --> 00:30:31.819 base. And then if it works, you promote those 00:30:31.819 --> 00:30:34.700 franchises to the NBA. The G League could be 00:30:34.700 --> 00:30:37.480 the Trojan horse for the NBA's global domination. 00:30:37.920 --> 00:30:39.500 It's not just a feeder system anymore. It's the 00:30:39.500 --> 00:30:42.000 vanguard. It is the tip of the spear. So next 00:30:42.000 --> 00:30:44.839 time you see a guy check into an NBA game. with 00:30:44.839 --> 00:30:47.920 a number like 47 on his jersey, and you don't 00:30:47.920 --> 00:30:51.200 know his name, pay attention. He just survived 00:30:51.200 --> 00:30:53.680 the most competitive laboratory in sports. And 00:30:53.680 --> 00:30:56.240 he's hungry. Thanks for diving in with us. Always 00:30:56.240 --> 00:30:57.759 a pleasure. We'll see you on the next one.