Bison

Today, the NBA G League and Hyatt announced a new multi-year sponsorship that makes Hyatt the official integrated resort partner of the NBA G League. The league will also bring on the Greater Orlando Sports Commission as a sponsor of NBA G League Winter Showcase to support the event at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, for the next four years.
As a cornerstone of Hyatt&rsquo;s sponsorship, the 2023 Winter Showcase will take place Dec. 19-22 at Hyatt Regency Orlando and the Orange County Convention Center, bringing the NBA G League&rsquo;s premier in-season scouting opportunity to the Southeast for the first time.
To connect NBA G League fans and World of Hyatt members, the league and Hyatt will also be activating on the sponsorship through a variety of assets, including digital and social media, signage and hospitality.
&ldquo;The NBA G League is thrilled to work with Hyatt and the Greater Orlando Sports Commission to bring the 2023 NBA G League Winter Showcase to Orlando,&rdquo; said Shareef Abdur-Rahim, the NBA G League President. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re looking forward to working with Hyatt on enhancing the experience for players and team personnel at one of the NBA G League&rsquo;s marquee events.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Hyatt is pleased to welcome the NBA G League Winter Showcase with an effortless and unforgettable resort experience at Hyatt Regency Orlando,&rdquo; said Laurie Blair, the Vice President of Global Marketing at Hyatt. &ldquo;Our passion for offering World of Hyatt members and guests world-class service and unique stay experiences naturally extends to players and personnel. We look forward to introducing them to Hyatt&rsquo;s global portfolio of desirable destinations and rooting for them across all our markets.&rdquo;
&ldquo;We are so proud to partner with the NBA, in collaboration with our partners here in Orlando at the Orange County Convention Center, Visit Orlando, Orange County and our hotel partners, as we prepare to host the NBA G League Winter Showcase for the next four years,&rdquo; said Jason Siegel, the President and CEO of the Greater Orlando Sports Commission. &ldquo;We are confident that the players, administrators, coaches and NBA executives will have an incredibly positive experience while they are visiting our community.&rdquo;
The NBA G League Winter Showcase will be the culmination of the Showcase Cup. During the Showcase Cup, teams are placed into&nbsp;<a href="https://gleague.nba.com/showcase-cup-pods-2023-24" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://gleague.nba.com/showcase-cup-pods-2023-24&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1694806643773000&amp;usg=AOvVaw17D9LZBrYBLjHDAKLRLCji">four regions</a> and play 14 games exclusively against one another in NBA G League markets. The teams with the best winning percentage in each region, along with the next four teams with the best winning percentages regardless of region, will advance to compete for the Showcase Cup Championship in a single-elimination tournament during Winter Showcase. The remaining teams will each play two games outside of the Showcase Cup Tournament at the Winter Showcase.
The complete game and broadcast schedule for the Winter Showcase will be released at a later date. The schedule for the Showcase Cup portion of the 2023-24 season is available&nbsp;<a href="https://gleague.nba.com/schedule?month=9" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://gleague.nba.com/schedule?month%3D9&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1694806643773000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0gQeLN18JIzNBzuSJ-LYLA">here</a>.

Today, the NBA G League and Hyatt announced a new multi-year sponsorship that will bring the NBA G League Showcase to Orlando.

NBA G League Winter Showcase will move to Orlando for next 4 years

Today, the NBA and FIBA announced 80 of the top high-school-age prospects from across Africa who will participate in the 19th edition of Basketball Without Borders (BWB) Africa, which will be held July 28-31 at the American International School of Johannesburg (AISJ) in South Africa.
BWB Africa 2023 will bring together 80 boys and girls from more than 25 African countries &ndash; including 19 NBA Academy Africa and NBA Academy Women&rsquo;s Camp Africa 2022 prospects &ndash; to learn directly from current and former NBA, WNBA and FIBA players, legends and coaches and compete alongside their peers from across the continent.&nbsp;
The campers will be coached by two-time NBA All-Star Bam Adebayo (Miami Heat; U.S.; ties to Nigeria), 2022 NBA All-Star Darius Garland (Cleveland Cavaliers; U.S.), 2022 NBA champion Jonathan Kuminga (Golden State Warriors; Democratic Republic of the Congo) and Jalen Suggs (Orlando Magic; U.S.).
Five current and former NBA head coaches will also serve as BWB Africa 2023 coaches: Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff; two-time NBA Coach of the Year, Nigeria Men&rsquo;s National Team head coach and Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown; 2018 NBA Coach of the Year Dwane Casey (most recently with the Detroit Pistons); Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham; and veteran NBA coach Dave Joerger (most recently with the Philadelphia 76ers).
Several former NBA and WNBA players will also serve as BWB Africa 2023 coaches, including 2015 FIBA AfroBasket champion Olumide Oyedeji (Nigeria), 2011 NBA champion Ian Mahinmi (France; ties Benin), former NBA player and Basketball Africa League Head of League Operations Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje (Cameroon), former NBA player Tacko Fall (Senegal), 2003 WNBA champion Astou Ndiaye (Senegal), two-time WNBA champion Taj McWilliams-Franklin, four-time WNBA champion Sheryl Swoopes and Mozambique basketball legend Clarisse Machanguana.&nbsp;
Toronto Raptors Vice-Chairman, Team President and Alternate NBA Governor Masai Ujiri; New Orleans Pelicans Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations David Griffin; and Portland Trail Blazers Assistant General Manager Mike Schmitz will serve as camp directors, while David Crewe and Frank Adams (Phoenix Suns) will serve as the camp&rsquo;s athletic trainers.
The players and coaches will lead the campers through a variety of activities, including movement efficiency drills, offensive and defensive skill stations, three-point contests, 5-on-5 games, and life skills and leadership development sessions.&nbsp;&nbsp;A ceremony on the final day of the camp will award the Kim Bohuny Camp MVP, the Patrick Baumann Sportsmanship Award, the B.J. Johnson Most Improved Player Award, the Three-Point Champion and the Defensive MVP to the boys and girls who distinguish themselves on the court and as leaders.
As part of the camp, NBA players and coaches will also participate in several community outreach initiatives around Johannesburg, including a hospital visit and a Her Time to Play seminar for the female campers on July 28, and a court unveiling in the Alexandra Township on Saturday, July 29.&nbsp; In addition, BWB Africa 2023 coaches will lead a development clinic for local coaches at AISJ on July 30.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Also on July 29, select&nbsp;NBA players&nbsp;will visit the NBA Store at Sandton City Mall in Johannesburg and engage with fans.
BWB Africa 2023 will be supported by Nike, a global partner of BWB since 2002, which will outfit participants with Nike apparel and footwear, and Gatorade, which will keep players and coaches hydrated throughout the camp.
BWB has reached more than 4,100 participants from 136 countries and territories since 2001, with 112 former campers advancing to the NBA or WNBA.&nbsp; The NBA and FIBA have staged 70 BWB camps in 47 cities across 32 countries on six continents.
The following is a complete list of players participating in the 19th&nbsp;BWB Africa camp (rosters subject to change):
&nbsp;
<table style="width: 447px;" width="447">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 403px;" colspan="2">
GIRLS
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Name
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Country
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Ines Bellahmer
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Algeria
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Filomena Luis
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Angola
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Guigma Sadia
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Burkina Faso
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Gisele Kipo*
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Cameroon
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Hannah Dibadjou
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Cameroon
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Salma Khedr*
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Egypt
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Leila El Sanadily
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Egypt
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Aisha Hassan
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Egypt
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Lucie Mounganga
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Gabon
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Fatoumata Sylla
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Guinea
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Roseline Ooko
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Kenya
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Harena Randriamasimanana
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Madagascar
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Fitahiana Ratsimason
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Madagascar
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Joanie Rakotonanahary
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Madagascar
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Fatoumata Samake*
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Mali
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Oumou Soumare
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Mali
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Aya El Kallali*
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Morocco
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Albertina Matsinhe*
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Mozambique
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Bata Lurdes*
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Mozambique
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Shanaya Matusse*
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Mozambique
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Joy Biribebe
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Nigeria
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Benitha Ngarambe
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Rwanda
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Jane Dusabe
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Rwanda
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Fatou Sima
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Senegal
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Marie Diouf
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Senegal
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Ndickou Matar Diop*
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Senegal
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Tacko Sy
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Senegal
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Sheriffa Rahman
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Sierra Leone
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Onnetse Molokwame
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
South Africa
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Luhle Ndaba
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
South Africa
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Reneilwe Motebele
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
South Africa
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Susan Peter
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
South Sudan
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Asunta Ring
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
South Sudan
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Nawasa Lazaro
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Tanzania
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Ibouanga Moussounda
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Togo
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Arwa Ghorbel*
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Tunisia
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Eya Nasri
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Tunisia
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Afef Bengoula
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Tunisia
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Christine Namyalo
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Uganda
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 191px;">
Immaculate Adongpiny
</td>
<td style="width: 212px;">
Uganda
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
*Participated in NBA Academy Women&rsquo;s Camp Africa 2022
&nbsp;
<table width="447">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 418.75px;" colspan="2" width="447">
BOYS
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Name
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Country
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Aginaldo Neto*
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Angola
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Manuel Camboma*
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Angola
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Inacio Anatoli Da Silva
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Angola
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Claudino Capangaa
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Angola
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Sansao Wika
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Angola
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Philippe Ntungicimpaye
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Burundi
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Arnold Eyadi Kenfack
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Cameroon
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Hermann Bel Gassina
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Cameroon
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Chris Naguidebe
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Central African Republic
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Tahir Doungous*
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Chad
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Zie Cheikh Conde
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Tarek Khairy
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Egypt
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Ahmed Nedale
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Egypt
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Karim El Gizawi
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Egypt
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Courage Agbekpornu
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Ghana
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Kiggundu Austin Omondi
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Kenya
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Chouhaybou Keita
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Mali
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Mahamadou Konate
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Mali
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Hamza Bechchar
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Morocco
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Bolaji Oderinlo
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Nigeria
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Sultan Baruwa
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Nigeria
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Ibrahim Dan-Mutum
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Nigeria
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Jonah Precious
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Nigeria
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Ezekiel Obe*
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Nigeria
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Andre Bonazebi
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Republic of Congo
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Jude Fred Nkouka Silaho
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Republic of Congo
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Khadim Mboup*
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Senegal
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Assane Mandian*
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Senegal
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Yakhya Diop*
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Senegal
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Amar Diop*
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Senegal
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Mouhamed Camara
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Senegal
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Siyanda Radebe
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
South Africa
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Gilchrist Storm
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
South Africa
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Khaman Maluach*
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
South Sudan
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Moses Marial Mandiria
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
South Sudan
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Bol Wieu Mou Thet
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
South Sudan
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Lual Deng Lual Aguek
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
South Sudan
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Rayen Rouissi
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Tunisia
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Amen Hammi
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Tunisia
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 197.167px;" width="208">
Liberty Fusire*
</td>
<td style="width: 221.583px;" width="239">
Zimbabwe
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
*NBA Academy Africa prospect

Bam Adebayo, Darius Garland, Jonathan Kuminga and Jalen Suggs will coach 80 top high-school-age prospects from across Africa.

Adebayo, Garland, Kuminga, Suggs to coach prospects at BWB Africa 2023

The 2023 NBA Draft could go down as a special class, with talented prospects such as Victor Wembanyama, Scoot Henderson, Brandon Miller and the Thompson twins as well as some interesting depth pieces.
But will it ever be considered one of the best draft classes in NBA history? That remains to be seen.
Today, we're going to identify the cr&egrave;me de la cr&egrave;me of NBA draft classes.
The 2003 NBA Draft
The 2003 NBA Draft featured multiple generational talents that would come to define the NBA for the next two decades. Led by LeBron James, this class also included household names such as Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Not only did this draft have star power, it was also very deep. Twenty-seven players from the 2003 class played at least 10 seasons in the NBA: James, Wade, Anthony, Bosh, Kyle Korver, David West, Zaza Pachulia, Nick Collison, Boris Diaw, Kendrick Perkins, Leandro Barbosa, James Jones, Chris Kaman, Kirk Hinrich, Dahntay Jones, Steve Blake, Mo Williams, Luke Ridnour, Willie Green, Matt Bonner, Travis Outlaw, Keith Bogans, Darko Milicic, Mickael Pietrus, Sasha Pavlovic, Josh Howard and Luke Walton. This class featured nine All-Stars and plenty of quality role players.
The 1984 NBA Draft
The 1984 NBA Draft stands as a legendary class, and some might argue that it's the greatest draft of all-time. Two of the top three picks &mdash; Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon &mdash; would ultimately etch their names in the annals of basketball history and redefine greatness. In addition to Jordan and Olajuwon, players like Charles Barkley, John Stockton and Alvin Robertson showcased their immense talent as well. This class produced five Hall-of-Famers and seven All-Stars.
The 1996 NBA Draft
The 1996 NBA Draft changed the landscape of the league, heralding the arrival of future Hall-of-Famers and icons. Led by the legendary Kobe Bryant and the enigmatic Allen Iverson, this class boasted an array of talent that reinvigorated the game. This class also featured Ray Allen, Steve Nash, Jermaine O'Neal, Ben Wallace, Stephon Marbury, Peja Stojakovic, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Antoine Walker, Marcus Camby, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Derek Fisher. The 1996 NBA Draft was deep, producing 10 All-Stars and five Hall-of-Famers. Jon Finkel recently revisited this star-studded class in his book "1996," and he <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/revisiting-the-starstudded-1996-nba-draft-kobe-bryant-ray-allen-steve-nash-allen-iverson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ran a terrific excerpt on Basketball News</a>.
The 1985 NBA Draft
The 1985 NBA Draft was certainly special. This class featured 10 All-Stars including Karl Malone, Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullin, Joe Dumars, Detlef Schrempf, Xavier McDaniel, Charles Oakley, &nbsp;AC Green, Terry Porter and Michael Adams. The class also featured Arvydas Sabonis, an overseas legend and terrific Portland Trail Blazer. Like the 1996 NBA Draft, this class has the star power and depth to be considered one of the best drafts in NBA history.
The 2009 NBA Draft
While not as immediately illustrious as some of the other classes on this list, the 2009 NBA Draft proved to be a treasure trove of talent. This class exemplified the importance of patience and player development, as Stephen Curry, James Harden, Blake Griffin, DeMar DeRozan, Jrue Holiday and Jeff Teague would all go on to become All-Stars. Griffin missed his rookie year with an injury, but dominated as soon as he stepped on an NBA court. Curry battled injuries early in his career, but would become a four-time champion and two-time MVP. Harden went from being an elite sixth man to an MVP once he got the opportunity in Houston. This class also featured Brandon Jennings, Ricky Rubio, Tyreke Evans, Darren Collison, Ty Lawson, Patty Mills, Danny Green, Taj Gibson and Patrick Beverley among others.
Which class is the greatest in NBA history? <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tweet us your thoughts</a>!&nbsp;

Basketball News examines the crème de la crème of draft classes throughout NBA history.

Exploring the 5 best draft classes in NBA history

On Thursday afternoon, the NBA G League announced their team business awards for the 2022-23 season, with the Wisconsin Herd earning Franchise of the Year honors and Iowa Wolves president Ryan Grant receiving the Team Executive of the Year Award.
The Wolves were also named the recipients of the President&rsquo;s Choice Award, which recognizes the team that embodies and demonstrates excellence in business performance across key areas of focus. This award is chosen by NBA G League president Shareef Abdur-Rahim, who presented the awards during the league&rsquo;s annual Sales and Marketing Meetings.
The Wolves became the second G League team to earn this honor, as the President's Choice Award was established prior to the 2021-22 season.
A selection committee comprised of league executives determined the winner of the Franchise of the Year Award, evaluating all 30 teams on the league&rsquo;s core pillars ("compete with intensity, lead with integrity and inspire play"). The Team Executive of the Year Award was selected by a vote of the league&rsquo;s team presidents.
In addition to these honors, the Cleveland Charge earned the&nbsp;Social Responsibility Award,&nbsp;the Wisconsin Herd won Promotion of the Year and the Mexico City Capitanes won Retailer of the Year&nbsp;as well as the Digital Engagement Award.
<a href="https://gleague.nba.com/news/nba-g-league-announces-2022-23-team-business-awards" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://gleague.nba.com/news/nba-g-league-announces-2022-23-team-business-awards&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1683367909915000&amp;usg=AOvVaw30RSERXw97_KzCP3PBaAf0">Click here</a> for more information on this year&rsquo;s award winners. Below is a full list of honorees:
<ul type="disc">
<li class="m_5323285108427817689MsoNoSpacing">Franchise of the Year: Wisconsin Herd</li>
<li class="m_5323285108427817689MsoNoSpacing">Team Executive of The Year: Ryan Grant, President, Iowa Wolves</li>
<li class="m_5323285108427817689MsoNoSpacing">President&rsquo;s Choice Award: Iowa Wolves</li>
<li class="m_5323285108427817689MsoNoSpacing">Social Responsibility Award: Cleveland Charge&rsquo;s &ldquo;Barbershop Banter&rdquo;</li>
<li class="m_5323285108427817689MsoNoSpacing">Promotion of the Year: Wisconsin Herd&rsquo;s &ldquo;Be the Light&rdquo;</li>
<li class="m_5323285108427817689MsoNoSpacing">Retailer of the Year: Mexico City Capitanes</li>
<li class="m_5323285108427817689MsoNoSpacing">Digital Engagement Award: Mexico City Capitanes</li>
</ul>

The NBA G League announced their team business awards for the 2022-23 season on Thursday afternoon.

NBA G League announces team business awards for 2022-23 season

The Portland Trail Blazers and NBA G League announced that the Blazers have acquired the right to own and operate an NBA G League team that will play in the Chiles Center on the University of Portland&rsquo;s campus in North Portland.
The team name and branding (as well as the front-office and coaching staff) will be announced at a later date, but the team is expected to debut in the 2023-24 season. With this announcement, the NBA G League expands to a record 31 teams for the 2023-24 season.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m excited to welcome Jody Allen and the Trail Blazers ownership group to the NBA G League family,&rdquo; said NBA G League president Shareef Abdur-Rahim. &ldquo;The NBA G League continues to grow to meet the developmental demands of NBA teams, and today&rsquo;s announcement is further proof of the value the league provides to the NBA every day. I can&rsquo;t wait to watch the team tip off at the Chiles Center next season.&rdquo;
&ldquo;It was very important to our organization to enter the G League with an affiliate here in Portland and strategically strengthen our dedication to player development,&rdquo; said Blazers general manager Joe Cronin. &ldquo;I would especially like to thank Jody Allen, who is aligned with Dewayne Hankins and myself, to make it a priority to have this team ready for next season as it will serve not only as a developmental tool for players but also for aspiring coaches and staff while we continue to be a mainstay in the community as a whole.&rdquo;
To finish the 2022-23 NBA season, nine players on the Blazers had NBA G League experience: Ibou Badji, John Butler Jr., Chance Comanche, Drew Eubanks, Keon Johnson, Skylar Mays, Justin Minaya, Anfernee Simons and Jeenathan Williams. Since the NBA G League was established in 2001, Portland has called up a total of 20 players, including 13 over the last two seasons. The Blazers have assigned 27 players to the NBA G League for development or injury rehabilitation, while Portland assistant coaches Jonah Herscu, Steve Hetzel and Roy Rogers spent time coaching in the G League.
"Entering the G League with a team of our own will increase development in numerous areas,&rdquo; said Blazers president of business operations Dewayne Hankins. &ldquo;Not only will this team be an asset for developing young talent on the court, but developing talent off the court as well. We&rsquo;ll be leaning into an innovative approach that will improve all aspects of our business across both teams. With the team launching at the University of Portland, we&rsquo;re excited to continue engaging with the North Portland community.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Pilot Nation is thrilled to welcome the Trail Blazers G League franchise to their home on The Bluff,&rdquo; said&nbsp;University of Portland president Robert D. Kelly, PhD. &ldquo;UP has a rich and storied athletic tradition, and we couldn&rsquo;t be more excited to continue that tradition by hosting this new franchise on our beautiful campus. I am grateful to our friends from the Portland Trail Blazers and our Athletic Department staff for making this wonderful partnership happen, and I can&rsquo;t wait for the inaugural season to begin!&rdquo;
The NBA G League is a proven developer of NBA talent while also acting as the league&rsquo;s research and development laboratory, testing out innovative rules now used at the NBA level, including the Coach&rsquo;s Challenge and the 14-second shot-clock reset rule.&nbsp;
Currently, more than half of the players on NBA rosters have G League experience, while six NBA head coaches spent time honing their craft in the G League. In addition, half of the first-round picks in the 2022 NBA Draft played games in the G League this season.

The Portland Trail Blazers have acquired the right to own and operate an NBA G League team starting next season.

Blazers launch NBA G League team that they'll own and operate

KENNESAW, Ga. (AP) &mdash; Former Alabama assistant Antoine Pettway was hired as Kennesaw State&rsquo;s basketball coach Friday.
Pettway takes over for Amir Abdur-Rahim, who led the Owls to their first NCAA Tournament berth this season before being taking the South Florida job on March 29.
Pettway, 40, served on the Alabama staff for 15 years. He played for the Crimson Tide from 2000-04.
Pettway became the third Alabama assistant to be hired by another school as coach, following Charlie Henry (Georgia Southern) and Bryan Hodgson (Arkansas State).
Kennesaw State athletic director Milton Overton described Pettway as &ldquo;a well-rounded basketball coach, elite recruiter and family man with great integrity. His core values, exceptional work ethic, dedication to his players and love for the game is clear through the success Alabama basketball has experienced over the years.&rdquo;
Overton said Pettway brings &ldquo;a well-defined relationship&rdquo; as a recruiter in Georgia.
Pettway was the offensive coordinator as Alabama ranked in the top 20 in the nation in scoring each of the last four seasons.

Pettway was the offensive coordinator as Alabama ranked in the top 20 in the nation in scoring each of the last four seasons.

Kennesaw State hires Antoine Pettway from Alabama’s staff

Following a 12-year NBA career, Shareef Abdur-Rahim retired from basketball on September 22, 2008. The former All-Star, Olympic gold medalist and No. 3 overall pick averaged 18.1 points and 7.5 rebounds over the course of 836 NBA games.
After his playing days, Abdur-Rahim spent five years as an assistant coach and assistant general manager with the Sacramento Kings, then served as the general manager of the NBA G League&rsquo;s Reno Bighorns. From there, he spent two years working in the NBA league office.
All of these jobs helped prepare him for his current role: president of the NBA G League. Over the last four years, the 46-year-old has helped the G League grow &ndash; from the launch of the G League Ignite to the league&rsquo;s expansion into Mexico with the addition of the Mexico City Capitanes (the first G League team outside of the United States and Canada).&nbsp;
Abdur-Rahim opened up to Basketball News about the G League&rsquo;s growth, the league&rsquo;s decision to acquire the Capitanes, what his job entails and much more.
The G League acquired the Mexico City Capitanes from the Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional. What went into the decision to add the Capitanes to the G League?
Shareef Abdur-Rahim: &ldquo;Starting broader, there&rsquo;s the ongoing commitment that the NBA has had to Latin America and Mexico City. [Tonight] is the 31st game that the NBA has brought to Mexico, and there&rsquo;s an overall commitment of developing players and developing basketball there &ndash; we have an NBA Academy there. So, I think that was really the start, just the commitment that the NBA has had over the years to Mexico and Latin America.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Then, from a G League perspective, we are flexible and positioned in a way where we can add a team. The process of doing that isn&rsquo;t as extensive as it is [in the NBA] &ndash; even though it&rsquo;s been a lot of work. We can add a team and have a permanent residency in Mexico City in a way that maybe right now the NBA can&rsquo;t. It just made a lot of sense and, so far, it&rsquo;s been going really well. We&rsquo;re really proud of the opportunity we have with Capitanes."
As you mentioned, tonight will be the 31st NBA game in Mexico City, and today marks the 30th anniversary of the NBA&rsquo;s first-ever game there. How have the local fans responded to the Capitanes and has the G League become more popular in Mexico?
Abdur-Rahim: &ldquo;Everything points to it being positive. It&rsquo;s early, so it&rsquo;s hard to say the total impact and the numbers and that sort of thing. But you think of having 50 games broadcast in Mexico [and the impact that has]. Attendance has been strong. Merchandise of the Capitanes is selling well and setting records in the G League, setting a new tone for what teams can do with merchandise. Last year, when they weren&rsquo;t in Mexico City, you had fans traveling to the United States to support the team. Not to mention, the size of the market and everything we can do there. It&rsquo;s early, but all of the early indicators are extremely positive and point to there being a lot of excitement and support around the team.&rdquo;
(Editor&rsquo;s Note: The Capitanes&rsquo; home debut drew a crowd of 7,391 fans, which is the largest home-opener crowd in the G League since 2019.)
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Does the G League hope to continue expanding and adding more international teams in the near future?
Abdur-Rahim: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not something that I&rsquo;ll close the door on. But I can say: there aren&rsquo;t a ton of markets &ndash; maybe Canada &ndash; where you have the travel ease. Mexico comes with some challenges, but [it&rsquo;s somewhere] our teams can get to. I wouldn&rsquo;t close the door on it, but it&rsquo;s not something that we&rsquo;re focused on at the moment.&rdquo;&nbsp;
The G League is known for getting creative and trying new things, especially in recent years &ndash; from creating the G League Ignite, to acquiring the Capitanes, to experimenting with different rules. Are there any other creative ideas you guys are actively considering?&nbsp;
Abdur-Rahim: &ldquo;This year, all of our overtime games have the final target score &ndash; the first team to 7 is the winner. That&rsquo;s just innovation and trying things and experimenting with rules; that&rsquo;s kinda the lifeblood and DNA of the G League. It&rsquo;s something that we always want to look at and try to do. We want to be a little bit different. That&rsquo;s always a part of what we do, and we&rsquo;ll keep doing that. Historically, a lot of that [experimenting] has been based on basketball rules, but we want to continue to push the envelope from a business and fan-engagement standpoint as well.&rdquo;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
You were named the president of the NBA G League in 2018, and the league has seemingly made huge strides over the last four years. From when you took over to now, what are your thoughts on the G League&rsquo;s growth and how far it has come?
Abdur-Rahim: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m excited about it, but I think we&rsquo;re still just scratching the surface as far as what we can be. I&rsquo;m just looking forward to us continuing to grow, continuing to try new things and continuing to be bigger and stronger as a basketball league, but also an overall business.&rdquo;
The G League Ignite have attracted top prospects and helped them become top picks in the NBA Draft. What are your thoughts on the Ignite and the success they&rsquo;ve had?
Abdur-Rahim: &ldquo;We&rsquo;re really proud of them. I think there have been something like eight NBA draft picks and 10 players overall who are in the NBA. And I think we&rsquo;ve got another good group this year. I&rsquo;m really proud of what we&rsquo;ve been able to do with the Ignite and what they mean to the G League and the opportunity we&rsquo;ve been able to give young players.&rdquo;
You played in the NBA for more than a decade, and then you worked as an NBA assistant coach, an NBA assistant GM and a G League GM before becoming president of the G League. How did your time as a player, coach and executive help prepare you for your current role in the G League?
Abdur-Rahim: &ldquo;I think those jobs all prepared me in different ways for this role and kinda giving me context about the G League. They definitely prepared me, man. And they positioned me and set me up to learn and grow. Some of my skills and the information I have come from my past, and then there was a lot that was left for me to learn and get up-to-speed with, and that&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;ve tried to focus on and do.&rdquo;
Can you share what a typical day is like for you and what your job as NBA G League president entails?&nbsp;
Abdur-Rahim: &ldquo;A typical day ranges from speaking to our G League team presidents and owners about how we continue to grow the G League and grow our game, to visiting markets and those sort of things, to meeting with our business partners &ndash; be it someone like The General Insurance, who is a new partner, or someone like ESPN, who is a more established partner. I think of myself like the chief advocate of the G League &ndash; telling our story, communicating the vision and sharing the prospects of our league.&nbsp;
&ldquo;And then there is the stuff that&rsquo;s fun like watching basketball, talking about basketball. [Having conversations like], &lsquo;What&rsquo;s the future of basketball?&rsquo; Thinking of how we can continue to make the league better for our players. Our players are unionized now, so there&rsquo;s now an element of my day where I&rsquo;m co-existing with and working in partnership with the players&rsquo; union. It&rsquo;s all of that. There are some standard meetings and stuff that we do, but every day has a level of variety and I enjoy that.&rdquo;
Do you have goals going forward &ndash; either individually or for the G League as a whole?
Abdur-Rahim: &ldquo;Yeah, I think we kind of go through a [goal-setting] process as a league, and my goals are all pretty much connected to our league. For one, we want to continue to be the best place in the world to develop and prepare for the NBA. I know people hear that and think of players, but it&rsquo;s really for all people at this point &ndash; coaches, officials, business people, operations people, media, everything. We want to continue to establish that pipeline even more. We think we have something really exciting and special with the G League when we look at how the talent in the league is evolving and our connection to the NBA, so we want to continue to sell that story and build our audience. I think that telling our story and sharing that message [is important] along with continuing to build up our teams. The success at our team level and, locally, engaging with communities and having 30 strong teams is important, so we want to continue to do that. And we want to keep trying new things. Try to do things in a way that distinguishes the G League in its own way, so it is its own brand. That&rsquo;s what we want to do.&rdquo;
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I feel like there used to be a stigma that came with playing in the G League, especially if you were a top pick or a veteran player. Now, there are so many players with G League experience and it feels like that stigma is gone, which is great. Why do you think that is?
Abdur-Rahim: &ldquo;Well, I think it&rsquo;s two things. For one, I think players have seen so many examples of players who have had success &ndash; guys like Jeremy Lin, Seth Curry, Khris Middleton and all of our alumni. There are stories every year of players who start in some form in the G League and then elevate, so we&rsquo;ve become a real option for players and not something that&rsquo;s looked down upon. And then I think the integration with the NBA &ndash; with so many NBA teams owning G League teams and being connected to their G League team and truly integrating and seeing value in their G League team &ndash; has just improved the experience. Without a doubt, NBA teams know and understand the talent in the G League and have continued to invest in the G League, so the experience for players continues to get better, the coaching continues to get better and the opportunities for players continue to get better. As a league, we continue to try to improve the quality of life and the opportunity and the platform [for players] &ndash; from the number of teams, to the number of nationally televised games, to adding international games, to having higher salaries, to having more opportunities to get called up or signed to the NBA. All of that has just changed the idea of the G League and we want to continue to build on that.
&ldquo;This is a really exciting time for the G League. We have 30 teams for the first time &ndash; the 28 teams that are connected to NBA teams and then the two independent teams that have their own focuses and purposes &ndash; the international team in Mexico and the [Ignite] for young players. If you look at the young talent across our league, I think it&rsquo;s really a changing dynamic of our league where it&rsquo;s not just the players who have been overlooked anymore; now, we have these young, exciting players that NBA teams have assigned. We&rsquo;ve had 14 first-round picks get assigned [this season], from Washington&rsquo;s Johnny Davis to Charlotte&rsquo;s Mark Williams. In the past, lottery picks weren&rsquo;t really assigned to the G League, [but that&rsquo;s changing]. You also have the younger players who are sort of in-between like Sharife Cooper, Mac McClung &ndash; really good players who are just on the cusp &ndash; to experienced players like Jahlil Okafor, Norris Cole who are waiting to see what their next opportunity will be. I think it&rsquo;s just a really exciting time for our league and we want to continue to elevate it and tell our story.&rdquo;
You&rsquo;ve been very successful since retiring. What advice would you give to active players who are approaching retirement?
Abdur-Rahim: &ldquo;If possible, I think it starts earlier than retirement. People tell you this forever, but just know that your time as a player will end, so try to be curious and try to learn as much as you can and don&rsquo;t just limit yourself to just what you do on the court. There&rsquo;s so much that&rsquo;s going on around the game, so try to be curious about that and build relationships. And then, take your time to really find where your path is and what things you want to contribute beyond just being on the court. I think those are some of the really important things. Start early if you can. Be curious and learn as much as you can. Always value relationships &ndash; the same people I dealt with as a player are a lot of times the same people that I&rsquo;m dealing with in my role now. It is a transition, but be open to continue learning and don&rsquo;t be afraid of it.&rdquo;

NBA G League president Shareef Abdur-Rahim opens up about the league's growth, international expansion and more.

Shareef Abdur-Rahim on NBA G League's growth, Ignite's success, more

The G League Ignite said Friday that the team has struck a multiyear deal to relocate to Henderson, Nevada.
The Ignite had been training in Walnut Creek, California, since their inception and played home games this past season in Las Vegas, about 15 miles from their new home.
The team exists to develop young prospects in preparation for the NBA Draft. It has featured three eventual top-10 picks &mdash; Jalen Green and Jonathan Kuminga last year, Dyson Daniels this year &mdash; in its first two seasons.
&ldquo;With avid sports fans in the Las Vegas area who have quickly embraced their hockey, football and WNBA teams, we can&rsquo;t wait for NBA G League Ignite to showcase its future NBA stars and exciting brand of basketball,&rdquo; G League President Shareef Abdur-Rahim said.
The team&rsquo;s new arena, the Dollar Loan Center, is a 5,500-seat building that opened earlier this year. It also is home to American Hockey League affiliate of the Vegas Golden Knights &mdash; the Henderson Silver Knights &mdash; and the Indoor Football League&rsquo;s Vegas Knight Hawks.

The G League Ignite said Friday that the team has struck a multiyear deal to relocate to Henderson, Nevada.

G League Ignite moving to Vegas suburb of Henderson, Nevada

In the G League Ignite&rsquo;s inaugural season last year, the program produced several notable NBA Draft picks: Jalen Green (No. 3 overall, Houston Rockets), Jonathan Kuminga (No. 7 overall, Golden State Warriors) and Isaiah Todd (No. 31 overall, Washington Wizards). Former five-star recruit and UCLA commit Daishen Nix didn&rsquo;t hear his name called, but was signed to a two-way contract shortly after the draft. Despite the complications and challenges the Ignite faced with the pandemic last season, I&rsquo;d say it was a success overall.
This past weekend, I traveled to Des Moines, Iowa to see the new-look Ignite take on the Iowa Wolves (the Minnesota Timberwolves affiliate) in their 2021-22 season opener.
The young Ignite struggled mightily early on versus a talented Wolves team, having trailed 65-34 at halftime. However, with things looking bleak, newly-appointed head coach Jason Hart impressively kept the energy level high. His team subsequently chipped away at the deficit, closing the gap to make it a competitive game in the second half despite ultimately falling, 98-87.&nbsp;
Although the young prospects started off their pro careers with that common &ldquo;deer in the headlights&rdquo; look, I found the game to be very fruitful from a scouting perspective, nonetheless. Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Rod Strickland have done a terrific job of carrying over the momentum they created last season, and it&rsquo;s great to see that they have put together another very talented group of young NBA prospects.&nbsp;
Prior to attending the game in Iowa, I had previously crossed paths with the American prospects &mdash; Jaden Hardy, Michael Foster and MarJon Beauchamp &mdash; multiple times. I have also watched an extended amount of film on Australian prospect Dyson Daniels, who our very own <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-little-guy-from-bendigo-dyson-daniels-game-is-unlike-anyone-elses" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Spencer Davies interviewed this summer</a> too. So I didn&rsquo;t go into that game starting my evaluations from scratch, and had a decent level of familiarity with these young men. That said, this was the first time I was able to see them in their new professional setting &mdash; naturally, the next step in my evaluation process.
Here are my thoughts on each of the Ignite&rsquo;s top prospects:
Jaden Hardy
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 85%; height: 66px; border-style: none;" border="0">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 48.1356%; height: 22px;">Height: 6-4</td>
<td style="width: 48.1356%; height: 22px;">Position: Guard</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 48.1356%; height: 22px;">Weight: 198</td>
<td style="width: 48.1356%; height: 22px;">Draft Day Age: 20.1</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 48.1356%; height: 22px;">Wingspan: 6-9</td>
<td style="width: 48.1356%; height: 22px;">Nationality: USA</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
&nbsp;
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Jaden Hardy is already well-known as a dynamic scorer. I might even go as far as to call him a potentially-elite scorer. However, in this specific game, he was not. Hardy&rsquo;s game generally starts from the outside. He is a terrific outside shooter with limitless range, which subsequently opens things up for him and allows him to use his explosiveness and finishing abilities at the rim. He clearly wasn&rsquo;t feeling it in Iowa, as his outside shots weren&rsquo;t falling, which seemed to put some additional pressure on him to create more off the dribble and get to the hole. Despite only shooting 1-of-8 from three-point range, Hardy still ended up with 12 points and 6 assists. To be clear, I&rsquo;m not concerned with one off shooting night at all. I have no doubt that the kid can fill it up.
I&rsquo;m intrigued to watch Hardy more and get a better feel as to whether he can play some point guard, or if he will be limited to strictly playing as a shooting guard primarily as a scorer. If he is limited to only playing off the ball, I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s necessarily a huge knock on his evaluation; it just changes the outlook as to what his long-term role will be.&nbsp;
I&rsquo;m also going to be keeping an eye on his defensive fundamentals and discipline. I can&rsquo;t say that I was overly alarmed, but he has a lot of room for growth on that end of the floor. At the same time, similar things were said about Anthony Edwards, LaMelo Ball and Jalen Green at the same stage in their development &mdash; and they&rsquo;re all just fine.
We currently have Jaden Hardy at No. 3 on our <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2022 NBA Draft Big Board</a>, and I am comfortable with him in that spot for now. At this point, I believe that, in some type of order, Chet Holmgren, Paolo Banchero and Hardy are the &ldquo;Big Three&rdquo; of the 2022 draft class.
Dyson Daniels
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 89.6695%; height: 75px; border-style: none;" border="0">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 25px;">
<td style="width: 48.1356%; height: 25px;">Height: 6-6</td>
<td style="width: 48.1356%; height: 25px;">Position: Guard/Forward</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 25px;">
<td style="width: 48.1356%; height: 25px;">Weight: 198</td>
<td style="width: 48.1356%; height: 25px;">Draft Day Age: 19.3</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 25px;">
<td style="width: 48.1356%; height: 25px;">Wingspan: 6-7</td>
<td style="width: 48.1356%; height: 25px;">Nationality: Australia</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
&nbsp;
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As opposed to most NBA prospects who I track for years and see in live action before they step into their pre-draft season, this was the first time I had seen Dyson Daniels in person. As mentioned before, I had spent time watching film on him, but I find it hard to get a great grip without seeing a prospect with my own two eyes.&nbsp;
At first glance, Daniels more than passes the eye test. At 6-foot-6 and 199 pounds, he looks like an NBA player. Interestingly, Daniels started at point guard as Scoot Henderson &mdash; who will be eligible for the 2023 NBA Draft &mdash; was out with a minor injury. Although Daniels looks like he&rsquo;d be an athletic and slashing wing, his greatest strength is his ability to get to his spots off the bounce. My early impression is that, regardless of what position he plays, his ability to create is what appeals the most.
Daniels showed flashes of major upside as a versatile guard with terrific positional size, but was unassertive, which seemingly led to a lack of production. It was only his first game with the Ignite, so I&rsquo;m not going to overreact here, but I would like to see him break out of his shell a bit moving forward.&nbsp;
We will be tracking Daniels very closely moving forward, as he has a lot of talent. He is currently ranked 21st on our <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Big Board</a>.
Michael Foster
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 85%; border-style: none; height: 66px;" border="0">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 48.1356%; height: 22px;">Height: 6-8</td>
<td style="width: 48.1356%; height: 22px;">Position: Forward</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 48.1356%; height: 22px;">Weight: 250</td>
<td style="width: 48.1356%; height: 22px;">Draft Day Age: 19.4</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 48.1356%; height: 22px;">Wingspan: 6-11</td>
<td style="width: 48.1356%; height: 22px;">Nationality: USA</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/20210913_ng0934_ignite_lg.JPG" alt="" width="650" height="433" />
I have seen Michael Foster play in-person many times. There&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/michael-foster-wont-be-stopped-from-turning-nba-dream-into-reality" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a lot to like about him</a> &mdash; his physical profile, tools and raw skill set are undeniable. He played hard and was terrific on the boards in the game vs. the Wolves, but offensively he left me wanting more, as he has done before. Actually, his lack of self-awareness on the offensive end has made me increasingly frustrated.&nbsp;
When evaluating Foster, I can&rsquo;t help but think about a scene from an old Vince Vaughn movie named, &ldquo;Swingers.&rdquo; In the scene, Vaughn&rsquo;s character said something along the lines of:
You&rsquo;re a big bear with big claws and fangs, and there&rsquo;s like this little bunny just cowering in the corner. You&rsquo;re looking at these claws, and you&rsquo;re thinking to yourself, &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t know how to kill the bunny.&rsquo;
Although I&rsquo;ll admit the analogy is a bit off the wall, I think it fits. Foster has the physical tools and skills to be such a physical force, but regularly chooses to be a finesse player.
If I were coaching Foster, I would set him on a two-dribble limit and only give him the green light to shoot jumpers off the catch; my hope would be that it would force him to simplify his game. I&rsquo;d like to see Foster turn himself into a rebounding machine who is constantly looking to tear the rim down, while also being able to hit an open shot from the perimeter. He&rsquo;s certainly capable of doing these things, but he needs to choose to play that way.
I&rsquo;m not giving up on Foster as a prospect, but I think he needs to make the next steps in his development in order to even come close to maximizing his talent.
MarJon Beauchamp
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 89.6695%; height: 100px; border-style: none;" border="0">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 48.1356%; height: 22px;">Height: 6-6</td>
<td style="width: 53.6301%; height: 22px;">Position: Guard/Forward</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 48.1356%; height: 22px;">Weight: 199</td>
<td style="width: 53.6301%; height: 22px;">Draft Day Age: 20.8</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 48.1356%; height: 22px;">Wingspan: 7-0</td>
<td style="width: 53.6301%; height: 22px;">Nationality: USA</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
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MarJon Beauchamp (<a href="https://twitter.com/Marjon32?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Marjon32</a>) putting his explosion &amp; athleticism on full display with a couple monster dunks, including this one that fired up the Ignite bench. <a href="https://t.co/SiZf3d0IBn">pic.twitter.com/SiZf3d0IBn</a>
&mdash; Derek Murray (@DMurrayHoops) <a href="https://twitter.com/DMurrayHoops/status/1454247282271039490?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 30, 2021</a></blockquote>
A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to spend some time with MarJon Beauchamp and watch him work out after he joined trainer Frank &ldquo;Hell&rsquo;s Trainer&rdquo; Matrisciano&rsquo;s Chameleon BX (now Stealth X Athletics). It seems as if the pandemic really threw a wrench in the program&rsquo;s plans, as MarJon has not gotten much exposure since I first saw him. However, as soon as he took the court in Des Moines, it was instantly noticeable that he had transformed his body. Once a skinny kid, Beauchamp now looks like a grown man physically. And you know what? He played like one too.
Tallying 18 points and 8 rebounds, Beauchamp utilized his athleticism to execute various slashing moves, throw down some impressive dunks and contribute on the boards. If he&rsquo;s able to prove to be reliable enough as an outside shooter, I think he&rsquo;ll find a place for himself in the NBA.
Following my trip to Des Moines, I&rsquo;m not sure any player helped himself more than Beauchamp did. As a result, we have moved him up our <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Big Board</a>. He is currently ranked No. 48.
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Today is November 1, and the NBA Draft is set to take place on June 23, 2022. The NBA Draft process is exactly that &mdash; a process. As an NBA Draft Analyst, I spend years evaluating prospects, starting when most are at the high school level. My personal approach is to not be overly concerned with being the first to be right about a prospect, but rather to organize my schedule and my efforts to make sure that I&rsquo;m able to gather the proper amount of relevant information to be able to come to a conclusive evaluation by draft night.
I&rsquo;ve now shared my candid thoughts with you as to where I stand with each of the G League Ignite&rsquo;s prospects at this particular point in the process. One thing I really like about evaluating prospects early in the season is that there is still plenty of time for the prospects to change the narrative &mdash; for better or worse.&nbsp;
And for that reason, I&rsquo;ll continue to watch closely.

Matt Babcock provides his thoughts on each of the G League Ignite’s top NBA Draft prospects after seeing their pro debuts in Iowa.

Babcock: Takeaways from the G League Ignite’s season-opener

WALNUT CREEK, Calif., Oct. 13, 2021 &ndash; Fanbo Zeng, a top international prospect from China, has signed to play with NBA G League Ignite, NBA G League President Shareef Abdur-Rahim announced today.
A native of Harbin, China, Fanbo was among ESPN&rsquo;s top-ranked forwards in the class of 2022. He spent two years at Windermere Prep in Florida before returning to China in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. &nbsp;As a sophomore in 2019-20, Fanbo averaged 15.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.6 blocks and 2.1 assists to earn Class 3A First Team All-State and Orlando Sentinel All-Area First Team honors.
NBA G League Ignite is a first-of-its-kind program that gives top young prospects a chance to begin their professional careers while receiving mentorship and life skills training and preparing for the NBA Draft. Fanbo joins an elite group of young talent, including Jaden Hardy, Michael Foster, MarJon Beauchamp, Dyson Daniels and Scoot Henderson on Ignite&rsquo;s latest roster. The mix of top youth standouts and NBA and G League veterans look to continue the program&rsquo;s success after its inaugural season, which featured strong debuts by elite prospects Jalen Green, Jonathan Kuminga, Daishen Nix and Isaiah Todd, and international standout Princepal Singh.
(Editor's Note: Read our Spencer Davies' exclusive interviews with G League Ignite standout prospects&nbsp; <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/michael-foster-wont-be-stopped-from-turning-nba-dream-into-reality" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Michael Foster Jr.</a> and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-little-guy-from-bendigo-dyson-daniels-game-is-unlike-anyone-elses" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dyson Daniels</a> to learn more about each player's goals with the program.)

A native of Harbin, China, Fanbo was among ESPN’s top-ranked forwards in the Class of 2022.

Chinese top prospect Fanbo Zeng signs with G League Ignite

The Little Guy From Bendigo doesn&rsquo;t quite roll off the tongue like Just A Kid From Akron, but like LeBron James, G League Ignite guard Dyson Daniels is trying to make his hometown famous.
It&rsquo;s apropos that Daniels is channeling his childhood hero, though his country neighborhood in Victoria, Australia is more rural and smaller than that of LeBron&rsquo;s well-known abode in Northeast Ohio. It&rsquo;s also located on another continent in another hemisphere, a place that many people in the United States have never heard about.
From news articles to funding to general support, Daniels has felt the love from his local community. So what better way to return the favor than to make it to the NBA?
&ldquo;I try not to take it as pressure, but I'm trying to do everything to get Bendigo and Australia on the map,&rdquo; Daniels told BasketballNews.com in a Zoom video interview. &ldquo;Just be the best version of me I can and do my best."
He&rsquo;s chosen to do that with the Ignite in America, as opposed to committing to college or signing with the popular National Basketball League Next Stars program close to home, a route he was extremely close to picking.
&ldquo;I was almost certain on it before I got offered to go play on the G League Ignite squad. I was almost certain on going to the NBL,&rdquo; Daniels said. &ldquo;That's obviously a very good pathway as well. We've seen it with [Josh] Giddey and a few other players.&nbsp;
&ldquo;But I think just the overruling factor was talking, having a few Zoom calls with [former Ignite] head coach Brian [Shaw] and [G League president] Shareef [Abdur-Rahim], and them telling us about the development you're gonna get on and off the court. You're gonna be busy all day doing basketball things and helping to get better life skills and stuff like that. But yeah, I think I made the right decision and I'm ready to get started."
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Just over a week ago, Daniels made the trek to America to begin a new chapter of his basketball journey in California. He&rsquo;ll be one of the standout prospects joining the likes of Michael Foster, Jaden Hardy, Scoot Henderson, MarJeau Beauchamp and Fanbo Zeng as a part of a highly-regarded Ignite squad.&nbsp;
In one of his first workouts following his arrival, Daniels got to exchange pleasantries with Jason Hart, the team&rsquo;s new head coach following Shaw&rsquo;s departure to the Los Angeles Clippers.
&ldquo;It was good to catch up with him,&rdquo; Daniels said. &ldquo;That's the first time I've ever seen him in person, but he believes in me. You've gotta earn your playing time, so when training [camp] starts, I'm gonna put in [the work] and I'm gonna make sure I earn it."
Fans and even front office decision-makers may be unfamiliar with Daniels and his skill set, as there&rsquo;s little film and box-score research that can be done on the 18-year-old. For some, that unknown factor might be cause for hesitation. Daniels, however, sees that as a golden opportunity to show what he&rsquo;s made of.
&ldquo;I try not to get in my head [and be] too involved in the mock drafts and things like that, but I guess being there, people haven't really seen me as much as some of the other guys,&rdquo; Daniels said. &ldquo;That's good for me, and I'm just here to show 'em that I'm gonna put in the work and try to get my name up top once they see me more. But yeah, ultimate goal is to go No. 1.&rdquo;
Daniels describes his game as &ldquo;unlike anyone else&rsquo;s.&rdquo; He doesn&rsquo;t model it after anybody, instead taking bits and pieces from multiple pros. Using his favorite NBA player, Russell Westbrook, as a blueprint, Daniels emulates a similar mentality. He likes to interrupt passing lanes and intercept the ball to get out into transition as his fellow Aussies, Ben Simmons and Matisse Thybulle, often do.&nbsp;
Defense leading to transition chances, he relays, is a signature tool in his arsenal.
&ldquo;That's how I generate a lot of my offense. I like to think of myself as just 'smart' defensively, being able to get steals, being able to guard 1-through-4, some 5,&rdquo; Daniels said. &ldquo;Get steals, play smart, rotate and generate offense then. But I'm a playmaker, I'm a big point guard, 6-foot-6, so I like to make plays off the dribble for my teammates and myself. Get into lanes and use my floaters is one of my keys.&rdquo;
Basketball News Lead NBA Draft Analyst Matt Babcock provided his own scouting report on Daniels:
Dyson Daniels has positional size, can create with the ball in his hands and is a terrific slasher and capable outside shooter. He has a lot of upside and is a high priority on our watch list for this upcoming season.
Once Daniels acclimates to the Ignite environment in Walnut Creek by getting to know his teammates and running through a few practices, he&rsquo;ll set more short-term objectives for himself. For now, he&rsquo;s been in the gym with trainer Jordan Lawley in L.A. to address some areas of his game that can be refined.
&ldquo;Just become a more consistent shooter, just tweaking a few things in my shot preparation that I need to do better,&rdquo; Daniels said. &ldquo;But I'm sure that's gonna come. It's come along nicely already. But that, and then tightening up my handle. I'm a bit taller [of a] point guard... some of those little guards can get in underneath you, so I'm sure that's what's gonna happen this year in the G League. Just tightening up my handle and being ready for anything are some things I'm trying to improve on.&rdquo;
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While he may have solid size and length now, it wasn&rsquo;t always that way for Daniels. Now at 6-foot-6, he argues that having to pick up skills when he was little helped him become the player he is now.&nbsp;
Daniels remembers being a small six-year-old kid playing point guard for a Division III team in a U-10 league, erratically sprinting on the floor and turning the ball over frequently. But from the day he touched a basketball, Daniels knew he was &ldquo;made for it.&rdquo; He would watch the NBA, NBL and any other hoop programming that would hit his television screen.
His father, Ricky, played two years at NC State and starred for the Bendigo Braves when he was younger. While his mom, Brikitta, has gotten Dyson right in terms of manners and keeping him in line, Ricky has helped Dyson from a young age in the backyard.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Both my parents have helped me a lot just to become the person I am,&rdquo; Daniels said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s really good to have them and I get pointers off them... My biggest support system is my family, my close friends, close coaches and things that I have like that.&rdquo;
Daniels never stopped progressing, though, and began to make Division I teams in his pre-teens. Once that started happening, it caught the eyes of coaches near and far.
When he was 15, Daniels followed in his dad&rsquo;s footsteps by joining the Braves for a season at home in 2019. It was his first taste of semi-professional basketball, and matching up with bigger bodies was advantageous. But Daniels&rsquo; stock began to soar as soon as he moved to Canberra with the NBA Global Academy later that year.
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He&rsquo;s thankful for the entire staff, from NBA international director of basketball operations Chris Ebersole and content/program development lead Marie-Laurence Archambault in New York, to the coaches, trainers and everybody involved for the chance to be a part of the program. Competing in tournaments in Europe and America was paramount to his development, and he learned crucial off-the-court lessons in addition.
"I've changed so much &mdash; the person I am, the confidence I have now, the coaching that I was able to get there was phenomenal. We had the [Centre of Excellence] coaches as well. Going in there as well [at 6-foot-2], I was a little scrawny kid. Coming out, I've got a much bigger body... I had a huge growth spurt, 6-6. That helped me 'cause I was a point guard and already had those skills; it helped me, being 6-6, to still being a point guard.
&ldquo;So just building my body, building my life skills, building my basketball. They've helped me be able to see the floor better. I think IQ's something I've always had, but they've helped me to use it more and use it to my strengths. I've just learned so much from them.&nbsp;
Daniels is poised to become the second player in NBA Academy history to be drafted. The first was fellow Aussie Josh Giddey, whom he&rsquo;s been tight with since the duo&rsquo;s U-12 days playing for Victoria. They keep in touch and congratulate one another on their successes, so Daniels was thrilled when the Oklahoma City Thunder selected Giddey at No. 6 in the 2021 NBA Draft.
&ldquo;It was huge, man. I've known Josh for a while and seeing him put in the work when I was with him in the NBA Academy and then, get the opportunity to play in the NBL with the [Adelaide] 36ers and he excelled there, and he deserves every bit of it. It was really good seeing him [get drafted] and it was really good being able to play alongside him as well. That's my boy and I'm happy for him.&rdquo;
The progression for Daniels at the Academy paid off this past February, as the Australian senior national team brought him in to be a part of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers. In his only game, Daniels led the team over New Zealand with 23 points, 6 steals, 4 assists and 3 rebounds.
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🇦🇺 17-year-old <a href="https://twitter.com/DysonDaniels?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DysonDaniels</a> put on a show for the Boomers in their win over New Zealand <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FIBAAsiaCup?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FIBAAsiaCup</a> 📊 23 PTS | 4 AST | 3 REB | 6 STL <a href="https://t.co/5iuKo09tK7">pic.twitter.com/5iuKo09tK7</a>
&mdash; NBA Australia (@NBA_AU) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA_AU/status/1363271752948744193?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 20, 2021</a></blockquote>

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&ldquo;That was really big for me as well. Being able to play for the Boomers in the Asia Cup Qualifiers at such a young age, some people don't get that opportunity,&rdquo; Daniels said. So obviously to be able to play, but to be able to have a really good game, that got me world looks and it helped me get to [be noticed]. [I'm] grateful for the opportunity from Adam Caporn to be able to play for the Boomers."
His momentum didn&rsquo;t stop there, either. He was a critical contributor for the Boomers&rsquo; U-19 squad in FIBA Basketball World Cup play, averaging 14.0 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 2.3 steals over seven games.
Spending time with the Boomers, Daniels has developed a relationship with former NBA veteran Matthew Dellavedova. It&rsquo;s ironic because he remembers being eight years old attending a Peak event where both ended up doing basketball drills together. Fast-forward to today, and they&rsquo;re teammates representing Australia, and Daniels gets advice from the champion guard when he asks for it.
The Little Guy From Bendigo hasn&rsquo;t done too bad for himself, and the fun part has just begun. Daniels is preparing for his first season at the professional level, which is step one toward Daniels finding himself in NBA threads come this time next year.
&ldquo;I always want to be in the gym. I always want to be the best I can. I'm sure some people have them about 'em as well, but I don't want anyone to outwork me. I want to be the hardest worker there is,&rdquo; Daniels said.
&ldquo;It's a great feeling. I think in terms of feeling ahead of people, I wouldn't say I do. There's options for everyone that they can choose, like what they want to do with their careers and that. But choosing a professional career for me, I think was the right choice, and I'm ready for it. So yeah, I'm ready to get started and I'm very excited for it.&rdquo;

Spencer Davies chats with Dyson Daniels about the upcoming G League Ignite season, his development in Australia and more.

The Little Guy From Bendigo: Dyson Daniels is unlike anyone else

Once listed as the <a href="http://www.espn.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/playerrankings" target="_blank" rel="noopener">top recruit in the Class of 2022</a> in ESPN's Top 100, Emoni Bates announced last week that he would be reclassifying into the Class of 2021.
According to multiple reports, Bates has <a href="https://usatodayhss.com/2021/emoni-bates-reclassification-final-four?fbclid=IwAR1v9HawRlpAHvLriI_O1T_rpLZeTjU9Dc_AapZ47qCFR1aHCNffS0DTRAI" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cut down his list</a> to the NBA G League Ignite, Memphis, Michigan State, and Oregon.
With plenty of options to choose from now in amateur-to-pro preparation, it is becoming a new trend for elite high school athletes to bypass the development that the high school level could provide for their games. And while the traditional college route has been gaining traction with top high school recruits due to the NIL decision by the Supreme Court, Bates has been open to going the professional route straight out of high school.
The Athletic&rsquo;s Brendan Quinn reported in March that Bates will in fact take his talents to the G League and seek the &ldquo;most lucrative deal the G League can muster&rdquo; prior to turning pro after the fact.&nbsp;
24/7 Sports writer Jerry Meyer wrote in <a href="https://247sports.com/Player/Emoni-Bates-46056542/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">his scouting report of Bates</a>: &ldquo;Extremely thin but has great length for such a skilled player. Plays with strength, though, and doesn&rsquo;t avoid contact... Quick twitch athlete who moves feet well and is quick off the floor. Elite three-level scorer. Has deep range off catch or dribble. Can score in a multitude of ways... Handles well, has plethora of moves and can attack either direction. Has a feel as a passer. Dangerous offensive rebounder. Good defensively when focused. Has defensive versatility. Elite, elite prospect."
Already signed to the G League Ignite is five-star recruit Jason Hardy, whom CBS Sports <a href="https:%20//www.cbssports.com/nba/news/2022-nba-mock-draft-paolo-banchero-to-thunder-chet-holmgren-to-magic-among-way-too-early-projections/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">predicts to go No. 4 in the 2022 NBA Draft</a>. The team also rosters five-star guard Scoota Henderson &mdash; another top-10 prospect &mdash; and five-star power forward Michael Foster.
With the addition of Bates, the G League Ignite could be well on their way to forming a "Fab Five" by landing the best prospects at each position, which could be the growing trend amongst top high school recruits in the near future.
It&rsquo;s important to note that, because Bates doesn&rsquo;t turn 19 until January 2023, he would not be eligible for the next year's draft. However, he won't be alone, as the Ignite signed Scoota Henderson for two years since he reclassified as well (and also won&rsquo;t be draft eligible until '23).
Now, here's a little bit about the G League Ignite: &nbsp;
In year one, the G League Ignite experiment proved to be a great success, as three players were selected during the 2021 NBA Draft. The Houston Rockets selected Jalen Green with the No. 2 overall pick, the Golden State Warriors selected Jonathan Kuminga with the No. 7 overall pick and the Milwaukee Bucks selected Isaiah Todd at No. 31 (he was later traded to the Washington Wizards).
That trio is now a trendsetter, as top high school recruits will likely feel much more comfortable following in those footsteps of pursuing this alternate path to the NBA and bypassing the traditional NCAA route.&nbsp;
However, this route isn&rsquo;t for everyone, but rather a small subset of the creme de la creme. Each of these three players was a five-star high school recruit in 2020 before joining the Ignite, so it&rsquo;s not for everyone. Still, it does provide a viable option for that special elite-of-the-elite group who choose not to opt for the traditional college route.
The NBA maintains its controversial age limit of draft-eligible athletes, requiring them to attend college for at least one year (one-and-done rule), so the need for an alternative is tremendous.&nbsp;
The mastermind behind the G League Ignite program is former NBA player Shareef Abdur-Rahim. He installed this experiment with the overall mission of providing &ldquo;NBA Draft readiness and growth of professional life skills.&rdquo;
The G League Ignite compensates players for their services (unlike the NCAA) and prepares them to be a professional athlete &mdash; both on and off the court &mdash; while playing with and against NBA veterans or other professional leagues. The program teaches the young men about what it takes to be a professional, and it includes courses on media training, financial literacy training and Zoom sessions with former NBA veterans to prepare them for what they are walking into.
For years, the National Basketball Players Association has attempted to do something similar in a crash course for a weekend for incoming NBA rookies, but what Abdur-Rahim has done is expand that training into a year-round program. So with financial backing of Commissioner Adam Silver and the NBA, we have had the birth of a true NBA developmental team.&nbsp;
To discuss this further, I had<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/podcasts/the-rematch/episodes/basketballnews-com-episode-30-g-league-ignite-head-coach-jason-hart-talks-evan-mobley,-ignites-draft-success" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> the opportunity to catch up with Jason Hart</a>, the newly-named head coach of the Ignite and my former teammate at Syracuse University.
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Etan Thomas: ​Coach Jason Hart, how are you doing, sir?
Jason Hart: ​Good man. Glad to be here. How you doing, man?
Etan: ​I'm good. My point guard for four years at Syracuse University and the new head coach of the G League Ignite, I want to say big congratulations to you.
Jason Hart: ​Thank you, man. Thank you. It's an honor to be here obviously with you, but also excited to get a chance to coach at the professional level.
Etan: ​So I know this is something you've been wanting to do for a long time and you have had this love for coaching for a long time. So just talk to me about how excited you are about this opportunity.
Jason Hart: ​Well, I'm super excited. I got into coaching obviously to give back and stay connected with the game. College was where I wanted to be. It has always been a dream of mine to be a college head coach. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. And when the opportunity presented itself in the G-League, I jumped on it and I'm happy to continue my coaching career, obviously at a higher level.
Etan: ​So let's get into the G League Ignite, a lot of people don't really understand the setup. They've been signing top prospects to play against G League veterans to prepare them for the NBA draft and the Ignite are based in California, and they're expected to play more of a traditional G League schedule this coming year. But talk to everybody about how it actually works.&nbsp;
Jason Hart: ​So the G League Ignite was created by Shareef Abdur-Rahim a very good friend of mine dating back from our days in Sacramento. Obviously, he's the president of the G League. And so this team was formed to keep our high school basketball stars from taking their talents overseas when RJ Hampton and LaMelo Ball went to Australia to play. It was an idea that was created for high school players who are good enough and who we think are good enough to have a chance to go to the next level, stay and develop in somewhat of a farm system, hone their talents against not only G Leaguers, but draft-pick kids who are playing for the Lakers or the Clippers and take the time to develop those guys, and then they go and get drafted in June.
​It was also formed to help these young men become pros off the court as well. It's a transition from high school, from them eating candy before the games to now understand how to take care of their bodies and get their minds mentally prepared to play against professionals. So it's more of a hands-on approach with 18-year-olds who have a high skill set, high level of talent and putting them in a position to succeed, and then surrounding them with veterans who are going to show them the ropes of the NBA lifestyle, of the NBA, and being able to push them in moments in the games to get them uncomfortable outside of their box. Also academically you have a scholarship for when you want to go back to school, there&rsquo;s a pilot program through a few universities particularly Arizona State. And they can go to school and get their degree if they want to choose that route as well, but they have an academic piece too. And then also they get paid a handsome amount of money for basically a season. But it's not for everybody. It's not for kids who need more time to develop in college, but it's for special-types-of-talent kids. Jalen Green, Jonathan Kuminga, those two are two of the players that played in the league.
Etan: ​One person that comes to mind is Winfred Walton. I think he would have been fantastic for a program like this. People don&rsquo;t understand how good he was, people forget. Let's talk about him for a minute, because when we got to Syracuse, it was right after John Wallace and Cuse In The House and they had just played in the championship game. So, you had John Wallace, you had Otis Hill, you had, Jason Cipolla, they were all on the court. So we come in there young, you know, fresh out of high school. And Fred went in there and was like, let's play us against y'all. You remember And pointed to us the other freshman. John Wallace said y'all not ready for that yet, and Fred was like whatever we're ready. Let's go. So it was me, you, Rock, Ramel Lloyd, Leshaun Howard and Fred.
​We had like our own Fab Five, to be honest with you. It&rsquo;s just that Fred didn't work out and had to leave and Rock transferred. But we had a crew. Talk about that when we scrimmaged them because they had just come back from playing in the national championship game, right, against Kentucky. And Fred was going to work.
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Jason Hart: ​Fred, like you said, he was a next-level of talent. Obviously, he had a chance to go out of high school and get drafted, but the G League Ignite program would have helped him because it would have allowed him to obviously be paid, but he was an elite talent. His body was already developed. He would've been able to do that. And we would have had him in a structured environment where we can watch his every move, mental aspect of the game and see that his dreams come true. But definitely, he was elite. He would have benefited from this program, but also he could have gone straight out of high school. He was that good. And his confidence was crazy. I think his game was more mature obviously than ours. He was special. I remember the school gave him No. 44. And they crossed out 44. So nobody could touch it. So that tells you how special he was coming in.&nbsp;
Etan: ​So I want to talk about that game though, because that game, he was going to work on John Wallace.&nbsp;
Jason Hart​: Well, Fred was bigger than J Dub. John was maybe 6-8, 6-9, for sure. Fred was 6-10 and a half, 235 [pounds] at 18 years old. So I remember the game and John Wallace was coming off a high, maybe one of the better players in the entire country for college. And so I remember man, we played them and Fred kind of gassed that game up. And we was like, okay, well we gotta play them. But you know what? That mindset right there, they don't do that anymore. In the college game they don't play pickup anymore versus the older guys and our guys, our generation now is suffering from let's just do skill work all the time. And so how we pulled ourselves up, we used to play pick up all the time. That doesn't happen anymore. Especially at the college game. It's more we set up appointment times to where we can do all skill work. And amongst the players, they don't like to do pickup anymore.
Etan: ​That's crazy, but going back to the G League Ignite, they had two players in the draft taken with Jalen Green going to Houston and Jonathan Kuminga going to Golden State, and both still have tremendous upsides. So with them having this success that they had going the route of going to the G League Ignite team as an alternative to going the college route or going overseas and hearing the announcers gush over them, the way that they did. Do you think that this is now going to really open the flood gates for high school players to really do the same, the top, top high school players?
Jason Hart: ​I think it just gives them another option. Obviously, they have the G League experience. You have the Overtime [Elite], it's another high school league that they formed. And they're getting paid out of that as well. I just think that with those two guys, obviously being that it was the inaugural season and they were able to get drafted so high. I think it gives the top-level players, an opportunity to come showcase their talent versus pros and being able to be coached and putting their environment to where it's going to help them succeed on and off the court. College is not for everybody. Like we just said, if Winfred didn't have to go to college, he probably would have been in the pros and had a 10-year career. So I think given our kids, the culture, the basketball coaching options to help them be successful. And that's what it's designed to do. And hopefully, it attracts more talent and it keeps this thing going.
Etan: ​I don't think attracting the talent is going to be a problem you know, to be honest with you,
Jason Hart: ​It's getting the right ones and then giving the kids just options. And so when you have options in life and you make the right decision, it obviously leads to a bright future.
Etan: ​That's definitely true. So, you said that you hope that they give you know, keep attracting talent. I don't know the rules, you know what I mean? So I don't want to, if you're not supposed to mention anything or how they do tampering, I don't even know how the rules are. So if you're looking at, you know watching high school now, who are some guys that you think could make that jump you know, to go to the G League route? Not saying that you're recruiting them to come to you or anything. I just want to make that clear for all that you know, NBA compliance people, whatever, not asking that. And that's not what coach Hart is saying. Just who are some people who could make that jump now that you see?
Jason Hart: ​Well, I'm not sure how the rules are set up, but we are actively recruiting the players that go to the power five schools, the elite schools. And so I don't know if we can say the names because they're not signed to us. It's just like a kid getting recruited to UCLA or Duke. We can't promote a player that's not signed to us. But when we are recruiting, we are sitting next to the Kentuckys and the Kansases. And it's not more of a being a threat, but obviously it's just options. And so your favorite top high school players, international players, 18, 19-year-old, same thing. It's a wide margin of players, of areas we try to cover. And obviously, we are looking for the top youth talent in high school and overseas.
Etan: ​So you are able to go to the top. So say like, we just had the EYBL Peace Jam Fest. You're able to go there and just right next to the coaches?
Jason Hart: ​I'm at the NBA Top 100 camp right now.
Etan: ​In Orlando.
Jason Hart: ​Yeah. And Rod Strickland &amp; Shareef Abdur-Rahim were at Peach Jam.
Etan: ​Got you. So it's the same you're at the same places.
Jason Hart: Yes, same places. I don't want schools to be like, man, they [are] trying to steal our players. That's not the goal. That's not, the intent is to give options for those who don't want to attend college and have the ability and confidence about themselves that they're ready to be professionals at an early age.
Etan: ​I definitely agree. So now as far as players going into the G League, and this is the part where I'm going to be really interested in to see how that develops &mdash; because I think that the NIL change will help some players in making the decision who are in a tough financial home situation and want to go pro for that reason. Well, now it will say, okay, well now I can make some money and take care of my family and stuff like that while I'm in school. I think that will help keep some guys in college a little bit longer. But more so about the G League and I don't want to, you know, I touched on the point earlier, but I want to keep on it because with these two high draft picks, in my opinion, I think it has to be the thought of every top high school player out there that if they did it and they hear the announcers gushing over them, the way that they did, they went number two and number seven.
So now they're like, okay, I could definitely do that. And I think it's going to open it up even more so where y'all might have to even be turning guys away, like, okay, we can't take any more high school guys. Or we're going to even open up another team up to the same thing. I think that many high school guys are going to grow up to be going this route. Do you agree with that?
Jason Hart: ​I totally agree. And during the draft, the G League Ignite team got a lot of positive remarks. And like I said, it's an option for players who have the ability and are ready. It&rsquo;s not for everybody, I can&rsquo;t say that enough. But I think those two guys obviously being the trend-setters and Isaiah Todd was another player that was drafted. Trend-setters in terms of the new age where we living in. I mean, this is something that was unprecedented being at this team was formed last year. And to have two lottery picks with the first seven picks and then another one at No. 31, it's definitely going to open the flood gates, but it also has to be a right fit. And it has to be something that you're willing to sacrifice and learn and be willing to accept coaching. But, you know, Hey, come join the G League, if that's your goal. And I'm saying it on your show. It's a win-win for all and hopefully, we can keep this thing going and make this team a destination for the elite talent.

Etan Thomas writes about Emoni Bates' reclassification and the route he may take, and also speaks with G League Ignite head coach Jason Hart.

Is the G League Ignite the best option for Emoni Bates?

The NBA G League announced in a press release the signing of international prospect Dyson Daniels to G League Ignite:
"International standout Dyson Daniels, a highly touted guard out of NBA Global Academy in Australia, has signed with NBA G League Ignite, NBA G League President Shareef Abdur-Rahim announced today.&nbsp;
&ldquo;'I&rsquo;m so blessed to be joining Ignite and I&rsquo;m ready to take my game to the next level,' Daniels said.
"Daniels joined NBA Global Academy, an elite basketball training center at Basketball Australia&rsquo;s Centre of Excellence at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, Australia, in 2019. The Bendigo, Australia native emerged as one of the country&rsquo;s top young prospects, participating in the NBA Academy Games 2019, exhibition games at the 2019 NBA G League Winter Showcase and the 2020 Torneo Junior Ciutat de L'Hospitalet in Barcelona, Spain.
"He previously represented Australia at the FIBA U15 Oceania Championships before receiving an invitation to join Australia&rsquo;s senior national team in FIBA competition this February, pouring in 23 points alongside four assists, three rebounds and six steals against New Zealand. Daniels is currently training with the Australian national team for the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2021, set for July 3-11.
"Daniels becomes the second NBA Academy graduate to sign with Ignite, following India&rsquo;s Princepal Singh (NBA Academy India; NBA Global Academy). Daniels joins Michael Foster Jr., Jaden Hardy and Scoot Henderson among Ignite&rsquo;s incoming top young standouts looking to continue the team&rsquo;s success from its inaugural year. With five-time NBA champion Brian Shaw serving as head coach, Ignite&rsquo;s first season featured strong professional debuts from elite prospects Jalen Green, Jonathan Kuminga, Daishen Nix, Isaiah Todd and Singh."

Daniels is the fourth player officially signed to next season's program.

International prospect Dyson Daniels signs with G League Ignite

Jaden Hardy, the nation&rsquo;s top guard among high-school prospects, has signed with NBA G League Ignite, NBA G League President Shareef Abdur-Rahim announced today in a press release. The five-star recruit is the No. 2 player in the Class of 2021, according to ESPN.
&ldquo;I would like to thank God for blessing me. I would like to thank my family and friends for their love and support. I am so excited and fired up that I am turning pro and playing for the NBA G League Ignite," Hardy said.
In the 2019-20 season, Hardy averaged 30.4 points, 9.1 rebounds and 8.4 assists as a junior at Coronado High School in Henderson, Nevada, earning the Nevada Gatorade Player of the Year and the Las Vegas Review-Journal&rsquo;s Boys Athlete of the Year awards. Hardy was unable to play a normal season as a senior due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but he was still named a 2021 McDonald&rsquo;s High School All-American and selected to the 2021 USA Nike Hoops Summit Team. A Detroit native, Hardy participated in three minicamps with the USA Basketball Men&rsquo;s Junior National Team in 2019.&nbsp;
"Jaden Hardy&rsquo;s most notable attribute is his ability to make shots from all over the court with endless range; however, don&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;s limited to just being an outside shooter, as Hardy is about as dynamic of a scorer as they come," said BasketballNews.com's NBA Draft analyst Matt Babcock. "He is effective at creating off the dribble, knocking down shots in the mid-range, and utilizing his superior athleticism to finish at the rim. Hardy will undoubtedly be one of the top prospects in the 2022 NBA Draft."
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Hardy is the second top-10 recruit from the class of 2021 to sign with Ignite this year, joining power forward Michael Foster Jr. (ESPN No. 7). Hardy, Foster and Scoot Henderson (ESPN No. 7, class of 2022) will help lead a mix of top young standouts and NBA and NBA G League veterans looking to continue Ignite&rsquo;s success from its inaugural year.
With five-time NBA champion Brian Shaw serving as head coach, Ignite&rsquo;s first season featured strong professional debuts from elite prospects Jalen Green, Jonathan Kuminga, Daishen Nix and Isaiah Todd, and international standout Princepal Singh.

Hardy joins Michael Foster Jr. and Scoot Henderson as members of the next wave of Ignite prospects.

Five-star prospect Jaden Hardy signs with NBA G League Ignite

The following is an excerpt from "1996: A Biography &ndash; Reliving the Legend-Packed, Dynasty-Stacked Most Iconic Sports Year Ever" by Jon Finkel. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/1996-Reliving-Undefeated-Undisputed-Greatest/dp/1635767504/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=&amp;sr" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The book is available now on Amazon.</a>
To borrow a song title from Green Day (the perfect mid-90s band), picks seven through 12 of the 1996 NBA Draft were a boulevard of broken dreams for NBA executives. They contain a collection of men that run the gamut from &ldquo;solid pro&rdquo; to &ldquo;absolute bust&rdquo; and no matter how defensible the selection was at the time, within 24 months it was clear that, to be blunt, these six franchises missed. This isn&rsquo;t 2021 revisionist history. This is 1997-1998 near-immediate regret.
It&rsquo;s one thing as a general manager to look in the mirror and know that taking Allen Iverson or Marcus Camby or Shareef Abdur-Rahim or Stephon Marbury or Ray Allen or Antoine Walker with one of the first six picks of the &rsquo;96 draft was the right basketball call at the time. They all made the &rsquo;96-&rsquo;97 All-Rookie Team (1st or 2nd) and there were two bona fide Hall of Famers (Iverson and Allen) several all-stars (Abdur-Rahim, Marbury and Walker) and Camby was a 4x All-Defensive Team player.
It&rsquo;s quite another thing to know that from the seventh through 12th picks, you took one of these half-dozen guys:
<ul>
<li> Lorenzen Wright &ndash; L.A. Clippers</li>
<li> Kerry Kittles &ndash; New Jersey Nets</li>
<li> Samaki Walker &ndash; Dallas Mavericks</li>
<li> Erick Dampier &ndash; Indiana Pacers</li>
<li> Todd Fuller &ndash; Golden State Warriors</li>
<li> Vitaly Potapenko &ndash; Cleveland Cavaliers</li>
</ul>
Over Kobe Bryant. Or Steve Nash. Or Jermaine O&rsquo;Neal. Or even Peja Stojakovic. That&rsquo;s a clean 35 All-Star selections from picks 13 to 17 versus none from picks seven to 12.&nbsp;
Ooooof.
Even in the moment, there was a lack of, let&rsquo;s say, sexiness, to picks seven through 12. In person, Kittles was the fastest coast-to-coast player in basketball (my opinion but I&rsquo;m right) and showed flashes of excellence, but few projected him as an All-Star-caliber talent. Wright, Walker, Dampier and Potapenko became serviceable, and in some cases, solid NBA players. But as they came off the draft board, Hubie Brown and other 1996 NBA draft analysts used phrases like &ldquo;will help shore up the defense&rdquo; and &ldquo;this helps them get bigger&rdquo; and other vague, roster-rounding-out terms, rather than things like &ldquo;game changer&rdquo; and &ldquo;potential superstar&rdquo; and &ldquo;special talent&rdquo; which he, and other draft gurus, reserved for the man picked after all of these guys: Kobe Bryant.
It&rsquo;s worth noting here that just because Bryant wasn&rsquo;t discussed as a #1 overall pick, it&rsquo;s not as if nobody knew how good Bryant could be. In fact, a lot of people suspected he could be the prize of the draft: they just didn&rsquo;t have the guts to put their jobs on the line for a high school kid, or they got talked out of it, or bullied out of it, or both.
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John Calipari really, really, really wanted him. He worked him out three times, each time becoming more and more convinced that Bryant was going to be special. So why didn&rsquo;t he take him with the eighth pick? There are three versions: one of them involves Calipari, a first-time NBA head coach, pleading with ownership to take him, but getting turned down. He described the scenario like this:
&ldquo;I had the eighth pick in the draft, and everyone thought I was nuts,&rdquo; Calipari said. &ldquo;A 17-year-old kid, a high school kid who&rsquo;s just now getting to the NBA? It shows you don&rsquo;t know what you&rsquo;re doing.&rdquo;
Version two was described in Jeff Pearlman&rsquo;s excellent book, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-rumors-shaquille-oneal-shaq-los-angeles-lakers-best-teammate-jeff-pearlman" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Three-Ring Circus</a>, and it involves Kerry Kittles&rsquo; agent strong-arming Calipari and telling him that if he didn&rsquo;t take Kittles&rsquo; (instead of Bryant), he&rsquo;d never let any other clients sign with the Nets.
Version three involves Kobe Bryant&rsquo;s agent, Arn Tellem, talking to Calipari and telling him that if he drafted Bryant, the teenager would never suit up for the Nets.
&ldquo;It was a calculated gamble," Tellem <a href="https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/charlotte-hornets/article239760573.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told The</a><a href="https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/charlotte-hornets/article239760573.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&nbsp;Charlotte Observer</a>.&nbsp;"I remember meeting with John Calipari and John Nash, pressing them not to take him if he fell. I left not knowing if they would pass. I thought they would pass, but didn't know.&rdquo;
In the end, it really doesn&rsquo;t matter which version is right, or even if it&rsquo;s a combination of all three. Calipari and the Nets didn&rsquo;t select Kobe Bryant and neither did the next four teams in line or any of the top-12 teams in the draft. It was only at Jerry West&rsquo;s urging, after a trade involving Lakers center Vlade Divac, that Kobe went off the board and found his way to the Lakers.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/kobe_nash_lg.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="472" />
West coveted Bryant like card collectors covet the Honus Wagner T206 and he planned to do whatever it took to land him. He worked with Tellem to limit Bryant&rsquo;s&rsquo; workouts. He massaged Vlade Divac&rsquo;s hesitation about going to Charlotte (Vlade once threatened to retire if traded).&nbsp;
As Bryant fell in the draft, West realized that his plan was coming to fruition when the Hornets selected him. And then the whole thing almost fell through because, well, someone on the Hornets said, &ldquo;Holy sh*t, we just got Kobe Bryant.&rdquo;
&ldquo;There was such excitement about the pick that Charlotte didn&rsquo;t want to go through with the deal,&rdquo; Mitch Kupchak, Los Angeles&rsquo; assistant general manager in 1996, said. &ldquo;There was a time there, whether it was Vlade (Divac threatening to retire) or just pressure on the franchise, where the deal was actually in jeopardy.&rdquo;
But it got done.
And instead of Bryant joining Anthony Mason, Glen Rice, Dell Curry and Muggsy Bogues in Charlotte, he teamed up with Shaq in Los Angeles and you know the rest.
***
With 25 years having passed since that epic day in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the legacy of the draft has been solidified.
Looking back on his class, Ray Allen says, &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to remember where our mindset was. We&rsquo;re walking into a league with Jordan, Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Reggie Miller, Hakeem Olajuwon, Scottie Pippen. There were some horses in this league that we were stepping into that we had been watching forever. We didn&rsquo;t think we were the next coming or next generation, but we were excited to be there.&rdquo;
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Allen explains that the toughest part about being drafted is balancing your excitement with any inclination to sit back and say, &ldquo;I made it." Guys who do that don&rsquo;t go far. He goes on to say that one thing that &rsquo;96 draft class shared was the mentality to keep pushing yourself and to self-motivate like you&rsquo;re on a mission.
&ldquo;When you look at myself, Nash, Kobe, Iverson, Marbury, Camby, Shareef, Jermaine, Peja, [Derek] Fisher, Walker, all these guys, they were all good to great in college [or high school] and scored a lot of points,&rdquo; Allen says. &ldquo;But they weren&rsquo;t in it to be famous or liked by everybody. It was evident in someone like Steve Nash, a white kid from Canada out of Santa Clara, he was on a mission. Kobe came in from high school and he was on a mission. Marbury wanted to prove what the legacy of New York City ballers could do, and he was on a mission. I came from meager beginnings and I was on a mission.&rdquo;
That was the big differentiator between past &ldquo;great draft classes." Rather than two or three or even five guys with the mindset to chase greatness, the &rsquo;96 class had a dozen.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the reason the &rsquo;96 draft class is thought of as one of the best,&rdquo; Allen says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the mentality we had. We were all on a mission to be better than we were. For all of us, there was a constant search to win. Every year, the championship was a carrot we were chasing. I didn&rsquo;t win until my 12th season. It comes down to watching basketball in June or playing basketball in June. This class had a lot of guys play in June. We knew what it took.&rdquo;
<a href="https://twitter.com/jon_finkel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Follow Jon on Twitter: @Jon_Finkel</a>
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/1996-Reliving-Undefeated-Undisputed-Greatest/dp/1635767504/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=&amp;sr=" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Buy this book on Amazon: 1996: A Biography &ndash; Reliving the Legend-Packed, Dynasty-Stacked Most Iconic Sports Year Ever.</a> 
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/1996-ad_lg.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="464" />

Jon Finkel looks back at the 1996 NBA Draft, which included Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson, Steve Nash, Ray Allen, Jermaine O'Neal, etc.

Revisiting the star-studded 1996 NBA Draft: 'We were all on a mission'

Each day, BasketballNews.com scours #NBATwitter to bring you the best tweets from the previous day. Some are insightful, some are just hilarious (so we had to include them). Without further ado, here are the tweets of the day for April 20, 2021.
Of Course We&rsquo;re Gonna Mention It
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that man set up a catfish account to make his podcast do numbers, gave her CANCER, catfished all these dudes on Lakers Twitter, decided to kill &ldquo;Vivian&rdquo; off when it got too much, then wanted to be the hero who found her after her &ldquo;missing&rdquo; post started doing numbers diabolical
&mdash; Tyler Conway (@jtylerconway) <a href="https://twitter.com/jtylerconway/status/1384489660332666884?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 20, 2021</a></blockquote>

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What a wild night for #NBATwitter. Shonda Rhimes herself couldn&rsquo;t have written this story. This is also a good starting point for anyone wondering why &ldquo;Vivian&rdquo; is trending in the NBA section of Twitter.
ClutchPoints Strikes Again
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
If the Vivian photoshops were made by us, NBA Twitter would never know she was a catfish. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/JustSayin?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#JustSayin</a> <a href="https://t.co/WMXWxQD0Pc">pic.twitter.com/WMXWxQD0Pc</a>
&mdash; ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) <a href="https://twitter.com/ClutchPointsApp/status/1384393536825528322?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 20, 2021</a></blockquote>

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They may have made everyone think Lonnie Walker IV had passed away, including Lonnie himself, but they do have a point here.
(Philly) Cheese
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
oh <a href="https://t.co/5kkqRltYGu">pic.twitter.com/5kkqRltYGu</a>
&mdash; Brady Klopfer (@BradyKlopferNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/BradyKlopferNBA/status/1384312951671164929?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 20, 2021</a></blockquote>

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The Wells Fargo Center is home to the 76ers, Allen Iverson, Joel Embiid, and the biggest pizza of all-time. If they don&rsquo;t have the Most Valuable Player this year, they will definitely have Most Valuable Pizza.
Rebranding
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
one day jokic is gonna put up a 30/15/10 game while wearing air monarchs
&mdash; Robby Kalland (@RKalland) <a href="https://twitter.com/RKalland/status/1384354440052760577?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 20, 2021</a></blockquote>

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When, not if, this happens, Nike&rsquo;s Air Monarchs achieve icon status for more than just being the official shoe of dads at barbecues.
A Lot To Take In
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Has this been discussed? <a href="https://t.co/R5kEHpc5Xn">pic.twitter.com/R5kEHpc5Xn</a>
&mdash; emma (@_emmajbrown) <a href="https://twitter.com/_emmajbrown/status/1384353909469192194?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 20, 2021</a></blockquote>

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The art is great. The messages are very specific. The baby looks like they have a large manicured hand.
Doin&rsquo; The Most
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
"Sir, there's really no reason for you to ta-- annnnnnnd ... you've taken your shirt off, great." <a href="https://t.co/UsvtZ4z6Y3">https://t.co/UsvtZ4z6Y3</a>
&mdash; Andrew Joe Potter (@AndrewJoePotter) <a href="https://twitter.com/AndrewJoePotter/status/1384220808994725894?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Enes Kanter is the gift that keeps on giving. Unless you&rsquo;re the nurse trying to vaccinate a nearly 7-foot tall man who insisted on standing with his shirt off for the process.
Your Move, Jimmy
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Today in Gems from Raptors Reddit: A redditor celebrates Yuta&rsquo;s contract the best way they know how. Yuta WantaLatte. <a href="https://t.co/NskEYdajIz">pic.twitter.com/NskEYdajIz</a>
&mdash; Kate (@KateBDoll) <a href="https://twitter.com/KateBDoll/status/1384153370659754001?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2021</a></blockquote>

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This is the real Big Face Coffee&trade;.
The Lannisters Send Their Regards
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Steph Curry really came in and cooked his brother in The City of Brotherly Love 😂 <a href="https://t.co/q5wIO0flHu">pic.twitter.com/q5wIO0flHu</a>
&mdash; Basketball Forever (@Bballforeverfb) <a href="https://twitter.com/Bballforeverfb/status/1384371306699780097?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 20, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Seriously. This is what Game of Thrones would be if it were set in the 2000s and got better each season instead of worse.

Each day, BasketballNews.com scours #NBATwitter to bring you the best tweets from the previous day.

NBA Tweets of the Day: The Vivian/Vivien Drama

The NBA G League announced today that 18 teams, including 17 NBA G League teams and the G League Ignite, will take to the court in February at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Fla. The top eight teams will advance to a single-elimination playoff.
&ldquo;We worked closely with our teams, the Basketball Players Union, and public health experts to develop a structure that allows our teams to gather at a single site and safely play,&rdquo; said NBA G League President Shareef Abdur-Rahim in a press release. &ldquo;We are thrilled to get back to basketball and to fulfill our mission as a critical resource for the NBA in developing players, coaches, referees, athletic trainers and front-office staff.&rdquo;
NBA teams without an NBA G League affiliate participating in Orlando will have the opportunity to assign roster players and transfer Two-Way players using the league&rsquo;s flexible assignment and Two-Way rules.&nbsp;
The 17 participating NBA G League teams are the Agua Caliente Clippers (LA Clippers), Austin Spurs (San Antonio Spurs), Canton Charge (Cleveland Cavaliers), Delaware Blue Coats (Philadelphia 76ers), Erie BayHawks (New Orleans Pelicans), Fort Wayne Mad Ants (Indiana Pacers), Greensboro Swarm (Charlotte Hornets), Iowa Wolves (Minnesota Timberwolves), Lakeland Magic (Orlando Magic), Long Island Nets (Brooklyn Nets), Memphis Hustle (Memphis Grizzlies), Oklahoma City Blue (Oklahoma City Thunder), Raptors 905 (Toronto Raptors), Rio Grande Valley Vipers (Houston Rockets), Salt Lake City Stars (Utah Jazz), Santa Cruz Warriors (Golden State Warriors) and Westchester Knicks (New York Knicks).
&ldquo;Our Cast Members are eager to work with the NBA family again and welcome in the next round of talented basketball players to compete at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex,&rdquo; said Faron Kelley, vice president of Disney Sports. &ldquo;Most importantly, Disney and the NBA G League will continue our shared focus on the necessary safety protocols for the well-being of the players, coaches, staff and everyone supporting this event.&rdquo;
Ignite, the recently launched team for elite NBA Draft-eligible players coached by former NBA player and head coach Brian Shaw, will play its first games against NBA G League competition in Orlando. Different from a traditional season, Ignite will be eligible to advance to the playoffs at Walt Disney World Resort due to the unique circumstances of this year.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Players, coaches, team and league staff living on the NBA G League&rsquo;s campus at Walt Disney World Resort will be guided by comprehensive leaguewide health and safety protocols, which are based on the core principles of social distancing, mask wearing, hand hygiene and COVID-19 testing.
The NBA G League heads to ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Disney just a few months after the NBA successfully restarted the 2019-20 NBA regular season at that venue last summer, which culminated with the Los Angeles Lakers winning the NBA title.&nbsp;&nbsp;
The complete 2021 NBA G League game and broadcast schedule will be announced at a later date.

Seventeen teams will head to Orlando for the NBA G League season.