Carmelo Anthony has become a champion of social change in many ways. It has most recently been about serious issues like police brutality and gun violence.
Now, Anthony is championing change in a place closer to his profession. The New York Knicks star wants the NBA D-League to undergo major reform and rebranding within the next CBA.
Anthony, currently the Vice President of the players’ union, spoke with ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne about the state of the league’s developmental circuit:
“If I had it my way, I’d rebrand the whole D-League,” Anthony told ESPN. “I’d rebrand it so it’s not seen as a punishment.”
Anthony also compared it to the developmental leagues in international soccer, with every major club, especially in Europe, having its own academy to nurture growth within young players:
“I’m a big advocate of developing our own players. If you look at soccer, for example, a lot of those clubs have top-notch academies,” said Anthony, who co-owns a professional team in Puerto Rico. “By me being in soccer now, I’ve started to understand the dynamics of developing your own players. We’ve got to keep our players here. We don’t want them to have to go overseas.”
A big part of what Melo is calling for are “two-way” contracts, allowing players to effectively play in the D-League and in the NBA, simultaneously. They estimate that between 44 and 60 more jobs can be created this way.
This is a huge issue within the NBA. The D-League has been growing in recent years, with more and more teams getting exclusively affiliated D-League squads. But salaries are incredibly low still, with players falling into two salary tiers of $19,500 and $26,000.
That’s simply not a competitive wage with Europe and China and it has led many fringe NBA prospects to take their talents overseas. That’s not great for growing the NBA game, not to mention that it’s not providing truly livable wages for those players.
D-League reform has been a long time coming. Now it has actual support from a top NBA player in Carmelo Anthony. With CBA negotiations reportedly going well between the two sides, this could be a huge added feature.
