None and done? McDonald’s All-American drops Syracuse commitment to enter G League
By SDS Staff
Published:
The times could be changing in college basketball.
With talk of the one-and-done era coming to an end in the near future, one domino might’ve fallen in that direction on Thursday.
According to a report from Yahoo’s Shams Charania, McDonald’s All-American Darius Bazley dropped his Syracuse commitment to join the G League. Nobody has ever bypassed college for the NBA’s developmental league.
Charania reported that Bazley, who is a projected top-10 pick in 2019, made that atypical decision because “the G League has the most to offer.”
“The G League will have the most to offer, considering that is the development league for the NBA. I will get more out of that than going overseas. The G League is the closest thing to the NBA. I see most guys now are spending time in the G League even after they went to school and the draft, so this gives me the chance to accelerate the process. There have been a lot of successful guys who have been brought up in the G League, and I’m confident that I will be one of them.”
Bazley is coming off a solid McDonald’s All-American Game on Wednesday night in which he posted 11 points and 7 rebounds. The 6-9 forward will be eligible to sign a G League contract after he turns 18 in June.
Could this open the door for others to follow suit? Perhaps. It’s a bit surprising that it took until 2018 for a 5-star recruit to pass on college for the G League route. Others, like Brandon Jennings, have gone overseas instead of playing in college.
Bazley’s move will certainly be dissected closely by many.
Saturday Down South reports and comments on the news around the Southeastern Conference as well as larger college football topics.
