NBA G-League Could Soon Surpass College Basketball In Star Power

Let's face it, for many potential college athletes, it's more about the potential payday they hope to receive as opposed to an education they could gain.

The NBA G-League, along with a current legal battle, is likely changing the landscape of college athletics, and it will have an impact throughout the amateur basketball world in regards to top players.  

Multiple outlets, including Sports Illustrated, have reported on the lawsuit involving former Duke star Zion Williamson where his former marketing representatives are suing him after he fired them and hired new representation. 

The suit alleges and wants to force Williamson to admit under oath that he or his family accepted improper benefits either before or during his time with the Blue Devils. 

Why does this impact anyone else or the Vanderbilt Commodores basketball program?

The Commodores currently have a high-profile head coach in Jerry Stackhouse who is attempting to build the program using his name and status as a former NBA player as part of the selling points on joining the Vanderbilt program.   

Stackhouse hopes his name recognition will draw more talent, including top talent to Nashville in the future,  but why would players such as Williamson now want to attend college when things like lawsuits could follow them. It's easier to simply take the G-League money and run there for a season before grabbing bigger money from the NBA.  

Those two factors are likely to push more players, like Aaron Nesmith, who has first-round talent away from college and into the G-League.  

Perhaps not every player will forgo college for the money of the lesser league. Still, already this year, we are seeing an increase in the number of top talents electing the cash over the college experience. 

That trend is likely to continue, too, as more and more players aren't interested in education, and like Williamson were simply in school to fulfill the one-year out of high school requirement the NBA currently requires for draft eligibility.

College basketball is in no danger of going away. Still, the top talents that only intend on spending one season at this level will become less and less as the money likely grows through this new avenue of professional basketball. 

While there will likely be some impacts to Vanderbilt and others, the schools most impacted will be those who have made a living signing one-and-done type talents who will now have to battle for more of the blue-collar talents as opposed to then instant stars. 

 Like everything else in these crazy times, college basketball coaches will have to embrace the changes that seem imminent in our world these days.   

Follow Greg on Twitter @GregAriasSports and @SIVanderbilt or Facebook at Vanderbilt Commodores-Maven.