What happened to G League Ignite? Why former club of Jalen Green, Jonathan Kuminga was forced to shut down

When crafting a list of the NBA's greatest talent factories, there's a host of programs that come to mind. Duke, Kentucky, UCLA and North Carolina lay claim to dozens of NBA icons past and present.

And yet, since 2020, no institution in world basketball has produced more draft picks than G League Ignite. The upstart organization introduced more than a dozen prospects to NBA fans, many of whom have become household names at the next level.

G League Ignite's legacy is still being unearthed. Yet, the team that proved so critical to fostering basketball stardom is but a memory, having been set alight after the 2024 season.

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The Sporting News details the the story behind G League Ignite, from its origins to its unceremonious demise.

What is G League Ignite?

Founded in 2020, G League Ignite was designed to offer top prospects another pathway to big-league success. Whereas college basketball and international ball has served as the traditional routes to reaching the hallowed grounds of NBA play in the past, G League Ignite vowed to reshuffle the sport's developmental landscape.

G League Ignite offered players compensation — an important distinction at the time. Remember: NIL wasn't formalized as NCAA policy until 2021.

Proponents also claimed the program would prepare draft prospects for the rigors of NBA life. Teenagers shared the floor with G League veterans, many of whom had NBA experience. They also received NBA-centered training, coaching, nutrition and more.

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A host of future NBA talents donned Ignite's threads, including Rockets standout Jalen Green and Defensive Player of the Year candidate Dyson Daniels. Nevertheless, after four seasons of play, the organization was disbanded.

Why did G League Ignite shut down?

In the end, NIL proved something of a death knell for Ignite and its push for legitimacy. When it started, the program was hailed as a viable adversary for men's college basketball. But when NIL arrived on the scene, it made Ignite largely obsolete, a dynamic that G League President Shareef Abdur-Rahim cited when announcing the dissolution of the institution.

"The decision to end the program comes amid the changing basketball landscape, including the NCAA’s Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) policy and the advent of collectives and the transfer portal," Abdur-Rahim said in a release.

“Four years ago, we started Ignite to fill a void in the basketball landscape, and I’m proud of the contributions we were able to make to that ecosystem,” Abdur-Rahim said. “With the changing environment across youth and collegiate basketball, now is the right time to take this step."

G League Ignite record

Ignite didn't compete in a full 32-game G League slate until 2022-23, playing an abridged schedule in 2020-21 and 2021-22.

Despite employing some 13 future NBA draftees, the team never accomplished much team success, falling under .500 in all but one season — its first.

Ignite's final season was by far its most challenging. Bulls rookie Matas Buzelis and Pistons newcomer Ron Holland proved noteworthy additions to the Ignite roster. But Ignite dropped 32 of its 34 matches on the year, struggling mightily against the veteran savvy of opposition G League sides.

Here's a look at how Ignite's records shook out in each of tis four seasons.

G League Ignite players

Despite posting just a 29 percent win rate across four seasons, G League Ignite produced more NBA draftees than any other institution. Green, Daniels, Buzelis, Holland and Jonathan Kuminga represent some of the more notable talents to emerge from Ignite waters. But other alumni like Scoot Henderson and Jaden Hardy have also found steady roles on their respective franchises,

Here's a