NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. — DeAndre Ayton, the top prospect in the Class of 2017, says he thinks more high school stars will now consider playing professionaly overseas — or possibly going to the NBA D-League if salaries rise high enough — instead of going to college.
“I think Terrance Ferguson opened their eyes up, I think a lot of dudes are gonna go overseas,” the 7-foot-1, 235-pound Ayton said of Ferguson, who is expected to play overseas, possibly in Australia, after failing to qualify for Arizona.
The overseas trend has been widely covered in recent years after American (or American high school) players like Brandon Jennings, Jeremy Tyler and, most recently, Emmanuel Mudiay spent time overseas before heading to the NBA.
Now that the 6-foot-6 Ferguson will apparently follow suit, Ayton, a native of Nassau, the Bahamas, believes that discussion will become more lively among high school stars.
But perhaps more interesting than that, he said high school players are now actively talking about joining the NBA D-League instead of college — especially if salaries get into the low-six-figures in the next few years.
“Man, I heard a lot of kids, yeah,” he said when I asked him about the D-League at the Peach Jam, where he’s playing with Cal Supreme. “That’s the big talk right now. Yeah, they just looking at it, like man I want to go get this money, stuff like that. But I’m just going to take it step by step and see my where game is at.”
Though there has been speculation that Ayton himself might play overseas instead of college, he reiterated his goal is to spend at least a year on campus — and named Kansas, Kentucky and Arizona as his top three.
“My mom wants me to go to college so I have to go,” he said.
“Yeah, I want that experience,” he added. “I really want to win a national championship, to be honest.”
Kansas has been on Ayton the hardest, but he says Kentucky and Arizona are now rounding out his top three.
“I got three of the best schools recruiting me and that’s my top three right now,” he said.
Kansas has been in there since the spring.
“They show a lot of love, keep me updated with things and [Kansas assistant Kurtis Townsend] came to every game since I was in ninth grade,” Ayton said. “That’s big.”
He wants to get back on a visit, too.
“I want to see the full thing at Kansas,” he said. “I looked at their weight room and stuff but I want to see the whole campus and stuff like that.”
As for Kentucky, he said, “Kentucky’s always been there but they just started engaging into my recruitment.”
He wants to visit Lexington, too.
“I want to go see Kentucky,” he said.
He added of Arizona: “I just took an unofficial visit to UofA in June and I like it out there. It’s pretty nice. That caught my eye when they said I could be their first [No. 1] draft pick coming out of college. That’s history and that really caught my eye.”
He said he hopes to visit Kentucky and Kansas (again) “probably after Peach Jam.”
He’s targeting a decision as early as this fall.
“Around the fall, I might make a commitment, next fall,” he said.
Meantime, talk about him playing overseas has hovered around him as he transferred before his junior season from Balboa City High (CA) to Hillcrest Prep (AZ), where he played briefly with Class of 2018 star Marvin Bagley, who’s now at Sierra Canyon High (CA).
Ayton on Thursday told Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com that he’s taking multiple online courses this summer — including “Pre-Calculus and English” — in order to be “on track” to meet the NCAA’s minimum requirements for freshman eligibility.
Amid all this hoopla, Ayton looks like he could step into an NBA game and play 10-15 minutes at the center position tonight.
Or at least when the regular season starts in the fall.
His fellow Bahamian, former Oklahoma star Buddy Hield, said as much at the Final Four.
“He’s special right now,” Hield told me in Houston. “I think he’s good for the NBA now. His physical talents he can rebound the ball. He’s just a talent, man. You just can’t teach height.”
Of course, the one-and-done rule being what it is, Ayton must spend at least a year in college before he goes into the 2018 NBA Draft — potentially as the No. 1 overall pick.
And that’s what he plans to do. For now.
The D-League question arose after several college coaches here privately discussed a concern that they could lose kids to the minor league if salaries get higher and the NBA continues to move toward a one-to-one relationship with D-League franchises. (This year 22 NBA teams, including the Knicks and Nets, are expected to have their own D-League teams.)
“I have heard that higher numbers in the D-League could attract top high school talent as well as underclassmen looking to improve stock before the NBA draft,” Chris Reichert, the Editor in Chief for Upside & Motor (upsidemotor.com), told SNY.tv.
“However, the reports I’ve heard on salary increases for the NBADL place the new range around $40K-$100K. I’m not sure those numbers get the elite talent jumping the NCAA ship but they may. The caveat here is that call-up opportunities could be lessened as we hit 30 teams and NBA teams (possibly) own all their affiliate players’ rights as well.”
One high-major college coach here indicated college basketball could be finished within a few years if D-League salaries continue to rise because the top kids will want to pay-for-play instead of spending time on campus.
“I think if a college kid could leave and make $100,000 while playing in an NBA system to prepare them, then it could certainly be enticing,” Reichert said. “To date the league has only seen NCAA kids in trouble (i.e,.: P.J. Hairston, Rysheed Jordan, etc) leave to sign with them but more money can always change things.”
Ayton tends to agree.
“Yeah, a lot of kids are very unfortunate,” he said. “They want the easy way out. They want the best opportunity. Iif that doors open they’re going to take it.”
Asked if helping their families was a factor, he said, “That’s the big motivation out here right now.”
