Hardaway: G League’s recruiting impact ‘huge’

NBA

Memphis basketball coach Penny Hardaway, no stranger to the nuances and hurdles of the recruiting trail, says it will only get tougher with the entry of the G League.

Hardaway, speaking to ESPN’s The Jump in an interview aired Thursday, said it came as an unpleasant surprise when the NBA began allowing high school players to sign with a G League pathway program.

“It’s going to have a huge impact, because it’s just a recruiting war right now when it comes to that,” Hardaway said. “But I think it’s going to affect us because we’re recruiting a bunch of five-stars.”

Last week, Kai Sotto, a 7-foot-2 center from the Philippines, became the fourth player to sign with the new G League select team for next season.

Sotto joined five-star high school recruits Jalen Green, Isaiah Todd and Daishen Nix on the new team, one that will be unaffiliated with any NBA club or any existing G League franchise.

The NBA’s initial designs last year called for players to receive offers of $125,000. But contracts for players in the G League’s yearlong developmental program will now reportedly reach as much as $500,000.

“When they took the money from a smaller level to a larger level, then that’s fair,” Hardaway said. “That’s definitely more appealing to a certain group of guys as we saw this year.”

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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