NBA G League Reveals Ignite As The New Name For Their Select Team

After being teased from various social media accounts on Tuesday, the NBA G League used Wednesday afternoon to reveal that “Ignite” will be the new team name for their Select Team. This news comes a few days after the group of top prospects which include Jalen Green, Isaiah Todd, Daishen Nix, Jonathan Kuminga, Kai Sotto, and Princepal Singh reported to Walnut Creek, California to start training with head coach Brian Shaw.

“We are thrilled to officially announce NBA G League Ignite as the name of our new team for elite prospects and we think it’s a fitting moniker for a group comprised of young players taking the first step of their promising professional careers,” stated NBA G League President Shareef Abdur-Rahim in a press release. “These players have a passion for the game and a desire to develop their skills for the next level and it brings us a lot of pride for them to blaze trails as inaugural members of NBA G League Ignite.”

Within the same press release that featured the Abdur-Rahim quote and the team name, we’re also starting to see who will be working on the coaching staff with Brian Shaw. Currently, we know that one of the assistant coaches Rasheed Abdur-Rahman while the video coordinator will be former Long Beach State Director of Basketball Operations Jerry Woods.

Perhaps the most important announcement of that bunch deals with the reveal that former Sacramento Kings Director of Sports Medicine Pete Youngman will serve as the Athletic Trainer for the Ignite crew. Youngman’s role will be extremely vital as raw talents like Princepal Singh, Kai Sotto, and Isaiah Todd need an experienced person to help with their physical developments as they train to become more appealing prospects for teams before the 2021 NBA Draft.

Although the jury’s out on how that trio and the other prospects will be able to develop their frames over the next few months, you be have to be assured by the fact they’ll be working with someone that has spent almost three decades working within professional basketball.

After the news of the last 72 hours, details surrounding the newly named G League Ignite crew is starting to become more clear. However, there are more than a handful of pieces that have to be put together over the next few weeks or months. For example, how many more staffers will the team add to work with the newly named trio and Brian Shaw? Which veterans are they going to add to fill the roster? Which G League or international teams will they play against? How many games are the Ignite actually going to be playing?

As we wait for those questions to be answers, stay tuned to this site and @ridicupside on Twitter as we’ll be keeping you updated on the G League Ignite team and the latest on when the next season will start.