It was October 2022 when London Johnson, then a senior at Norcross High School in Georgia, announced he was not only forgoing his NCAA eligibility, but leaving high school immediately to join G League Ignite, which was an alternative pathway for elite young prospects to prepare for the NBA without going overseas or attending college. He spent the next two years playing with Ignite before being selected in the 2024 G League Draft by the Maine Celtics. He played only three games with Boston’s G League affiliate before being waived. He joined the Cleveland Charge, the Cavs G League affiliate, later in the season.
On Monday, almost three years to the day later, Johnson committed to Louisville, where he is expected to arrive at the semester break and then have two years of eligibility.
How is this possible?
Only because of the precedent the NCAA has set in recent years, which continues to blur the line between amateurism and professionalism.
NCAA changing how it looks at amateurism
In September, Johnson’s former Ignite teammate, Thierry Darlan, announced his commitment to Santa Clara and enrolled as a junior. Like Johnson, the 21-year-old had previously foregone his college eligibility when he went from the NBA Academy, a developmental program that perpetuated amateurism, to Ignite in 2023.
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Darlan’s signing paved the way for Johnson’s, just as Johnson’s likely will for potentially multiple others who have played professionally in the G League, but not been on an NBA contract.
International players head to college
The influx of professional players into college basketball really started in the previous recruiting cycle though, it just flew under the national radar since those players were largely international.
In fact, maybe the single most notable player, from a precedent perspective, was Creighton’s Fedor Zugic. The Montenegrin committed to Creighton in August 2024. At the time, it was widely believed that he would be ruled ineligible because he had played over 200 professional games in the EuroLeague. On Dec. 21 he was allowed to make his debut with provisional clearance from the NCAA. He went on to play 22 games last season and while that was likely to be precedent enough, the NCAA confirmed two additional years of eligibility for him in July.
Not coincidentally, we saw an unprecedented amount of international players commit to college programs this offseason, many of whom had professional experience and were significantly older than a typical college freshman. The incentive is clear. With NIL and revenue sharing, there’s more money available now in college basketball than there is in numerous professional leagues around the globe, potentially any basketball league other than the NBA. Additionally, past professional experience and compensation is no longer a disqualifier for eligibility.
Money talks
The rationale that the NCAA has adopted is based on the levels of compensation. If the dollar amount was low enough that it is deemed to only cover “actual and necessary expenses” (i.e. the cost of living) then there’s a good chance that it will not impact NCAA eligibility if players are young enough to be within about a five-year window of their high school graduation. There’s even a possibility that if players pay back what is above that threshold of perceived necessity, then they can regain eligibility.
The bottom line is that the NCAA appears to be choosing a pathway to push the boundaries of amateurism to the very max, with a consistently evolving definition that gets flimsier by the month. From a sheer basketball perspective though, the college game has never been more appealing to talented young players throughout the world. So, while the mechanisms by which rosters are built have certainly changed, there’s more sheer talent than ever in the NCAA ranks.
