DALLAS Mavericks guard Jaden Hardy says he has fond memories of G League Ignite, making it difficult to end the program.
The talented scorer signed with the Ignite, which folded at the end of the 2023-24 season, as the second overall player in the 2021 recruiting class.
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Hardy, 21, ended up being the Ignite’s leading scorer in 2021-22, averaging 19.8 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 24 games.
The 6-foot-2 point guard was then selected 37th overall in the 2022 NBA Draft, falling over the championship hopeful Mavericks.
He reached the NBA Finals with Dallas this season after cracking coach Jason Kidd’s rotation in his second year in the league.
And Hardy told The US Sun before facing the Boston Celtics in Game 2 that Ignite played a big role in preparing him for the challenge.
“I don’t like to see it,” he said of the G League development team being discontinued.
“I enjoyed my time at Ignite. I feel like it was a good learning experience for me.
“I feel like it helped prepare me for where I am today.
“That was pretty much the main reason I chose to go to Ignite.
“I feel like it would help me play against better competition.”
Ignite, launched in 2020, offered basketball prospects an alternative path to the NBA draft, allowing them to skip college and turn pro sooner.
It also paid players a decent salary, with Hardy’s former teammate and now Portland Trail Blazers star Scoot Henderson signing a two-year, $1 million contract in 2021.
But with the NCAA’s name, image and likeness rules changing and the quality of college basketball programs rising in recent years, the NBA decided the team had run its course.
“The landscape isn’t even recognizable from when we started. It’s just a whole different world,” G League president Shareef Abdur-Rahim told The US Sun at the start of the 2024 playoffs.
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“We started Ignite because kids needed a place.
“Young people who wanted to play or have a career, start their professional career – they needed a place.
“And now, with NIL and all those… you have this.”
Abdur-Rahim said he is confident that Ignite will not be forgotten, despite only lasting four years.
“You’re going to keep hearing ‘former G League player Ignite’ as they continue to grow and develop, and have good seasons and good careers,” Abdur-Rahim, 47, told The US Sun during the NBA playoffs.
“This will continue the legacy.”
He added: “Without a league, no one had done anything like this before.”
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
