How Shareef-Abdur Raheem transformed the NBA G League into one of basketball's best talent incubators
When it first began in the early 2000s, the NBA G League (then known as the D League) was seen as more of a demotion than a place for the world’s best basketball players to hone their game.
If your team sent its rookies there, it probably meant they couldn’t play. If a veteran was assigned to a D League team, it may have been a career death sentence. At a certain point, it wasn’t even used for injury habilitation.
These days, that’s completely changed.
The NBA G League has blossomed into one of the most important team-building tools the NBA has to offer. Each and every team has an affiliate and most of your favorite up-and-coming players in the NBA has spent a minute or two playing or practicing with a G League squad for one reason or another.
NBA G League President Shareef Abdur-Raheem has played a large part in the continued sea change in the G League’s global perception.
We got a chance to speak with him about it for the latest episode of “Let’s Talk Sports Biz.”