NCAA Basketball Recruiting: Ranking No. 1 prospect Jalen Duren’s final 5 options
By Ian Mumm
NBA G-League
Although still in its infancy the NBA’s G-League route already seems to be paying dividends for the select few athletes on its current roster. Players such as Jalen Green, Jonathan Kuminga, and Daishen Nix all figure to be selected highly in the upcoming NBA Draft thanks to their play during the season. There was a lot of skepticism if this option would translate well for the players, but all of those doubts can be cast aside.
Now the G-League is focused on revamping its roster and making offers to top recruits in the 2022 class. Duren has the advantage of being able to accept his offer to the G-League as either a member of the 2021 or 2022 classes and has more say in the group he gets to play with.
Currently, there are three players from the 2021 class who have already made this move to play for the G-League Ignite team: Jaden Hardy, Michael Foster Jr., and Scoota Henderson. Henderson’s move was intriguing because he started in the 2022 class and decided to reclassify prior to joining the team.
The current collection of players who have already committed to this route are strong and complementary to the playing style of Duren. Foster is the only other frontcourt player of the three and in games played last season, there was equal sharing of minutes to allow for the development of all players. If Duren does decide this option works best for his timeline, he can choose to play with the Ignite for one or two seasons prior to entering the NBA Draft due to his age much in the regard Henderson did.
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In terms of potential exposure and building of his brand, the G-League Ignite featured televised games and plenty of other viewing platforms for fans to follow their games during the year. Duren will not be out of the spotlight in this situation and it will do him some good to be guided along his path by trusted individuals in the NBA community.