Should Josh Selby Have Played In The NBA Development League This Season?

by Scott Schroeder on Apr 25, 2025 10:00 AM EDT in NBA Draft 2011

Over the weekend, Quickish's Dan Shanoff and Kauffman Sports' Matt Tolnick each wrote about how a new NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement could affect the NBA Development League and the types of players that play in the D-League next season. Shanoff was riffing off of the idea of the one-and-done NCAA players going to the D-League, using Josh Selby as an example, while Tolnick made the case for each NBA team to include one D-League player on its roster.

I don't know how likely Tolnick's scenario is since I highly doubt that NBA veterans (here's to you, Jarron and Jason Collins) would sign off on younger, hungrier players being guaranteed a roster spot -- even if they weren't taking away a veteran NBA player's opportunity -- simply because if a player like Othyus Jeffers is added to your practices, the intensity level is automatically going to rise and the veterans won't have it nearly as easy as they would otherwise.

On the other hand, Shanoff's suggestions are things I've been touting for years at my various outlets all rolled into one neat and tidy little package after deciding that Selby should have gone the D-League route instead of playing one sub-par year at Kansas.

If you'll remember, I suggested this same thing for Memphis freshman Will Barton this season with suggestions that could have just as well been forwarded to Selby.

In the D-League, as Shanoff notes, players can be paid (legally), sign endorsement deals and be coached by NBA-level coaches while running NBA schemes on offense and defense instead of having to go through the rigmarole that is playing a year in college simply to skirt the NBA's age limit policy (which is, as you should know if you're reading this site, 19 as opposed to the D-League's 18).

Thus far, the only player I'm aware of that skipped college altogether to play in the D-League is Latavious Williams. It worked out pretty well for him as he was drafted in the second round of last year's NBA Draft by the Oklahoma City Thunder.

It isn't clear how playing in the D-League would have affected Selby's draft status, but Draft Express currently has the 6-foot-1 guard slated to be selected with the 25th pick in this year's NBA Draft despite Selby being ranked fourth overall in his high school class.

It will be quite interesting what affects the new NBA CBA has on the D-League, especially if a higher age limit is enforced as some have talked about.

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Read More: Josh Selby (G - Kansas), Oklahoma City Thunder, Kansas Jayhawks

Comments

Does the D-League have an influential advocate in the NBA front office?

It seems like the D-League doesn’t get enough respect. I do not understand why the league was created if most of the teams have no intention of utilizing it. It’s crazy to me that the suggestions you make on this site aren’t regularly brought up during NBA front office meetings. Maybe they are, but they don’t seem to be getting serious consideration.

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by Julius Coxswain on Apr 25, 2025 12:03 PM EDT reply actions

They can’t really change anything without changing the Collective Bargaining Agreement so I assume they have all of these ideas ready to present this Summer.

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by Scott Schroeder on Apr 25, 2025 12:11 PM EDT up reply actions

(And many of us fear that any more movement toward a "real minor league" will be the first thing the owners give on.)

I bet we don’t get real progress on this. Even if the owners wanted to do it in principle, they don’t want to spend on running the franchises. The handful of franchises willing to spend on a one-to-one affiliation with a D-league team already have things set up. The rest are eating that seed corn.

Meanwhile, existing NBA players probably have a disincentive to make things easier for young players, or Euros, who might take their jobs. Those two sets of players, who do obviously have an interest in how the CBA looks, aren’t represented at the bargaining table. (See: How the rookie scale happened, because none of the players negotiating were rookies any more themselves.)

I’m down on the NBA’s ability to see its own future, just today.

by feral on Apr 25, 2025 6:31 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah

It’s highly unlikely anything changes in the Collective Bargaining Agreement that really affects the D-League, because as you said, the teams that want to use it are getting out of it what they want and the rest, well, apparently don’t have that much interest in using it.

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by Scott Schroeder on Apr 25, 2025 6:55 PM EDT up reply actions

Both sides will take a stance on it, but both are totally willing to let it go.

Meanwhile the NCAA, too, has no reason to encourage another avenue to open up.

It’s the “developmental league” that nobody wants to develop. Argh.

by feral on Apr 25, 2025 7:11 PM EDT up reply actions

Josh Selby probably made more money at Kansas than he could have in the D-League … Cam Newton.

by tjarks on Apr 25, 2025 1:23 PM EDT reply actions

Is that a Drake line?

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by Scott Schroeder on Apr 25, 2025 2:13 PM EDT up reply actions

The NCAA would hate that.

But since I’m a fan of a smaller college, I wouldn’t mind all that much.

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by Omaha Sun on Apr 25, 2025 3:25 PM EDT reply actions

Would they, though?

I think having players that want to be in college instead of simply going through the motions while waiting for their chance to enter the NBA Draft would actually be a good thing for college basketball.

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by Scott Schroeder on Apr 25, 2025 4:12 PM EDT up reply actions