In a guest appearance on the ‘Point Forward’ podcast, 12-year NBA veteran P.J. Tucker gave his unfiltered thoughts on the G-League, which he considers to be pointless and a complete waste of resources. According to Tucker, the G-Legaue (which is being used as a bridge to the NBA) is not an appropriate way to measure NBA-level talent.
“I’ve never believed in the G League,” said Tucker. “I think the G League is the dumbest thing ever. Yeah, it’s not, the G League’s not built — you can’t see my value in the G League game. I’m not trying to kill [y’all] I’m not thirsty like that. When they send me out to the G-League I only get like 4 points, only shoot two times… because there’s no point.”
The G-League was originally known as the National Basketball Developmental League (or D-League for short), and it was intended to be a space where young guys or NBA hopefuls could come and improve their game for the highest levels of play. After Gatorade stepped in as their official partner, the G-League was born and it’s gotten a mixed reception ever since. While some claim it’s good for the NBA product overall, others argue that it’s redundant and entirely pointless.
The Truth About The G-League
The G-League is considered a subsidiary of the NBA itself rather than its own separate entity. As the NBA’s equivalent to the minor league system found in the NHL and MLB, it gives pro teams the ability to develop prospective talent that’s not yet ready for full-time NBA action. Over the past few years, we’ve even seen some G-League players find success in the NBA, including Fred VanVleet, Danny Green, Rudy Gobert, and (of course), 76ers swingman P.J. Tucker.
We’ve also seen some big mistakes in the G-League, like when the Utah Jazz had to refund over 7,000 fans for faking a matchup between Michael Jordan vs. Bryon Russell to sell more tickets. But even despite its flaws, the G-League is still valuable for a variety of reasons. Besides giving young players a chance to expand their skills, it gives teams a pool of players to invest in which can often lead to powerful results.
Changes Are Coming To G-League?
While no major changes are imminent at this time, some pretty wild ideas have been proposed for how to better incorporate the G-League into the NBA sphere. At one point, a movement was growing to send the worst-performing NBA teams down to the G-League, but that idea was shot down by Adam Silver last November, who claimed that even if you combined two teams and moved them up to the NBA, they still “wouldn’t be equipped to compete.”
Needless to say, the gap between the G-League and the NBA is like an ocean and there’s just no way to have them compete against each other in a way that would be fair or worthwhile to everyone involved. So, like it or not, the G-League is probably best just the way it is. For most people, the G-League is just one path of many on the way to the big leagues but there are many professional players today who have used it as a stepping stone for something greater, and future athletes hoping to make a name for themselves should have a chance to do the same.
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