{"id":100630,"date":"2025-06-15T16:31:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-15T16:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/100630\/"},"modified":"2025-06-15T16:31:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-15T16:31:11","slug":"i-think-its-a-waste-of-time-tracy-mcgrady-explains-why-its-pointless-for-young-players-to-play-in-the-g-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/100630\/","title":{"rendered":"“I think it’s a waste of time” – Tracy McGrady explains why it’s pointless for young players to play in the G-League"},"content":{"rendered":"

“I think it’s a waste of time” – Tracy McGrady explains why it’s pointless for young players to play in the G-League<\/a> originally appeared on Basketball Network<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The G-League<\/a> is a professional basketball league that serves as the NBA<\/a>‘s developmental platform for players, coaches, referees, and even front-office personnel. It is basketball’s version of the Minor League in baseball, where players hone their skills and earn experience with the hopes that they will one day get a call-up from the mother teams.<\/p>\n

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But while the G-League has helped many players reach their goals and fulfill their dreams, Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady<\/a> thinks it’s just a waste of time for these youngsters.<\/p>\n

“A lot of these guys are spending their time in the G League. For me, I think it’s a waste of time because the G League isn’t really paying money like that,” said<\/a> McGrady. “I think it’s 30, 25, 35 thousand dollars what they’re paying or something like that, versus overseas where you can make a real good living. You know, hundreds of thousands of dollars. Even some leagues are paying a million dollars.” <\/p>\n

Pat Bev signed a two-year $4 million deal to play in Israel<\/p>\n

Currently, the standard G-League contract is $40,500.00 for a five-month season. Players drafted and assigned to the G-League on a two-way contract make much more at $578,576, but only 60 players are drafted per class. Still, that’s peanuts compared to the $1.157 million<\/a> minimum salary a player with zero experience makes if he is signed to the NBA.<\/p>\n

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Big man Ariel Hukporti of Germany, the last player taken in the 2024 NBA Draft at No.58, signed a standard contract with the New York Knicks worth $5.7 million<\/a> for two years with a guarantee of $1.064 million. Hukporti ended up playing 217 minutes across 25 games for the Knicks.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, former L.A. Clippers guard Patrick Beverley signed a two-year $4 million deal with Hapoel Tel Aviv BC of the Israeli Basketball League last year. Pat Bev had a decent season, averaging 10.7 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game. Beverley, however, left Hapoel last February after negotiating a mutual termination of the contract. Still, he easily cleared the $1 million mark playing in Israel.<\/p>\n

Most youngsters still trust the G-League process<\/p>\n

Despite the disparity in pay, most NBA aspirants still go the G-League route when it comes to fulfilling their dreams, and many have been successful. In the last nine NBA seasons, at least 30 G-Leaguers received a call-up from their mother teams. This number is impressive, considering there are only 60 players picked in the NBA Draft every year. Also, a record 50 percent of players in the NBA during the 2023-24 season had G League experience.<\/p>\n

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Most notably, the most successful G-Leaguer in the NBA today is OKC Thunder guard Alex Caruso, who won a championship with the 2020 Los Angeles Lakers. Caruso was named to the All-Defensive first team in 2023 and second team in 2024. AC signed a four-year $81 million extension deal with the Thunder last December. Another successful G-Leaguer in the NBA is Miami Heat sharpshooter Duncan Robinson, who inked a five-year $90 million contract with the Miami Heat in 2021.<\/p>\n

T-Mac makes sense from the financial point of view. However, most continue to trust the G-League process, and the success stories of Caruso and Robinson inspire them even more to work harder.<\/p>\n

Related: Tracy McGrady thinks Jamaal Tinsley has better handles than Kyrie Irving: “Probably the best I’ve seen”<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally reported by Basketball Network<\/a> on Jun 14, 2025, where it first appeared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“I think it’s a waste of time” – Tracy McGrady explains why it’s pointless for young players to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[328,4990,7,4958,17776,21456,1137,21457,150,189,21455,6,191,878,210,655,8079],"class_list":{"0":"post-100630","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-alex-caruso","9":"tag-ariel-hukporti","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-duncan-robinson","12":"tag-hapoel-tel-aviv","13":"tag-israeli-basketball-league","14":"tag-l-a-clippers","15":"tag-league-experience","16":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","17":"tag-miami-heat","18":"tag-minor-league","19":"tag-nba","20":"tag-new-york-knicks","21":"tag-okc-thunder","22":"tag-patrick-beverley","23":"tag-players","24":"tag-tracy-mcgrady"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114688340092467928","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}