{"id":62655,"date":"2024-01-31T16:08:40","date_gmt":"2024-01-31T21:08:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=62655"},"modified":"2024-01-30T20:34:23","modified_gmt":"2024-01-31T01:34:23","slug":"g-league-up-next-game-rosters-revealed-prospect-overview-and-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/01\/31\/g-league-up-next-game-rosters-revealed-prospect-overview-and-analysis\/","title":{"rendered":"G-League Up Next Game Rosters Revealed: Prospect Overview"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On Sunday, the G-League, which is the NBA&#8217;s developmental league, revealed the rosters for the Up Next Game. The Up Next Game is the G-League equivalent of the NBA&#8217;s All-Star Game. Moreover, this is a chance for fans and front-office personnel to view prospects who could be called up or drafted(off the Ignite).<\/p>\n<h2>G-League Up Next Game Overview<\/h2>\n<h3>Up Next Game Details<\/h3>\n<p>The 2024 Up Next game will be the second annual Up Next game. The G-League held the first edition last year during last year&#8217;s All Star Weekend in Salt Lake City. This year&#8217;s edition will be played at the Indiana Convention Center on Sunday, February 18, at 1:30 PM ET. There will be 2 rosters of 14 players each for a total of 28 players selected to the game. 10 players were elected to the game via fan vote. The G-League itself selected the remaining 18 players. Of the 18 players, 8 players were selected from the G-League Ignite, a special exhibition team created by the NBA as an <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/08\/15\/2024-nba-draft-rumors-third-top-2024-nba-prospect-decides-to-bypass-college\/\" target=\"_self\">alternative to college basketball<\/a>. The remaining 10 players were selected by the league from the other 27 teams in the G League.<\/p>\n<h3>Up Next Game Rosters<\/h3>\n<p>To begin with, the 10 players selected via the fan vote were:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Javan Johnson(Santa Cruz Warriors)<\/li>\n<li>Ashton Hagans(Rip City Remix)<\/li>\n<li>Trevelin Queen(Osceola Magic)<\/li>\n<li>Skal Labissiere(Stockton Kings)<\/li>\n<li>Markquis Nowell(Raptors 905)<\/li>\n<li>Kevon Harris(Osceola Magic)<\/li>\n<li>Emoni Bates(Cleveland Charge)<\/li>\n<li>Quinndary Weatherspoon(South Bay Lakers)<\/li>\n<li>Luka Garza(Iowa Wolves)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Secondly, the 8 players selected from the G-League Ignite were:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Izan Almansa, G League Ignite<\/li>\n<li>Matas Buzelis, G League Ignite<\/li>\n<li>Thierry Darlan, G League Ignite<\/li>\n<li>Ron Holland, G League Ignite<\/li>\n<li>London Johnson, G League Ignite<\/li>\n<li>Dink Pate, G League Ignite<\/li>\n<li>Babacar Sane, G League Ignite<\/li>\n<li>Tyler Smith, G League Ignite<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Finally, the 10 non-G League Ignite players selected by the G-League were:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Dominick Barlow, Austin Spurs<\/li>\n<li>Darius Bazley, Delaware Blue Coats<\/li>\n<li>JD Davison, Maine Celtics<\/li>\n<li>Collin Gillespie, Grand Rapids Gold<\/li>\n<li>Keyontae Johnson, Oklahoma City Blue<\/li>\n<li>Kenneth Lofton Jr., Delaware Blue Coats<\/li>\n<li>Jermaine Samuels, Rio Grande Valley Vipers<\/li>\n<li>Cole Swider, Sioux Falls Skyforce<\/li>\n<li>Ethan Thompson, Mexico City Capitanes<\/li>\n<li>Oscar Tshiebwe, Indiana Mad Ants<\/li>\n<li>Alondes Williams, Sioux Falls Skyforce<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Potential Standouts and Players to Watch Out For:<\/h3>\n<p>Many fans don&#8217;t pay attention to the G-League, which is fair. However, more dedicated fans should at the very least familiarize themselves with the top players in the league. Significantly, those top players have a good chance of becoming the draft picks and depth pieces of your favorite NBA team&#8217;s future. For example, some notable players who spent significant time in the G-League are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/greenja05.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Jalen Green<\/strong><\/a>(Ignite), <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/poolejo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jordan Poole<\/a><\/strong>(Santa Cruz Warriors), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/siakapa01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Pascal Siakam<\/strong><\/a>(Raptors 905), and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/middlkh01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Khris Middleton<\/strong><\/a>(Fort Wayne Mad Ants).<\/p>\n<p>The potential top player to watch out for is Ron Holland of the G-League Ignite. He is a projected top 3 overall pick of the 2024 draft. Holland is averaging 20.2 PPG, as well as 6.2 RPG and 3.1 APG in the G-League. He has impressed scouts and experts alike for being able to put up these stats against the relatively tougher competition of the G-League as compared to college basketball.<\/p>\n<p>Another prospect to watch out for is Matas Buzelis of the G- League Ignite. He is a projected lottery pick in the 2024 draft. The 6&#8217;8 Lithuanian SG\/SF is averaging 12.0 PPG and 6.1 RPG. There are questions about his passive mentality. However, his shooting and defense have convinced many teams that he&#8217;s the real deal.<\/p>\n<p>A third player that is a potential standout is one that many Grizzlies fans will be familiar with: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/loftoke01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Kenny Lofton Jr<\/strong><\/a> of the Delaware Blue Coats. The one-time Memphis prospect is the league leader in PPG at 25.3. He is on a 2 way contract with the 76ers. Due to his impressive G-League performance and the 76ers propensity to accrue injuries, there is a very good chance the Sixers will call up Lofton to be a depth piece later in the season.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, the last player to watch out for is <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/08\/12\/nba-rumors-miami-heat-and-golden-state-warriors-adding-players\/\" target=\"_self\"><strong>Cole Swider<\/strong><\/a> of the Sioux Falls Skyforce. Significantly, Swider is the 2nd highest PPG scorer in the G-League(25.2 PPG), only 0.1 PPG behind Lofton Jr. Swider is on a two-way contract with the Miami Heat. Since the Heat&#8217;s impressive player development pipeline has produced results like Caleb Martin and Duncan Robinson, there is a good chance fans of the Heat and their rivals will be hearing the name Cole Swider very often in the near future.<\/p>\n<p>Another player that you might hear about in the near future is journeyman depth piece<a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/weathqu01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong> Quinndary Weatherspoon<\/strong><\/a> who spent time in the NBA with the Warriors and Spurs. Furthermore, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bazleda01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Darius Bazley<\/strong><\/a> spent years in the NBA with the Thunder and Suns. If your favorite NBA team suffers repeated injuries and needs more players, there is a better than decent chance that either Weatherspoon or Bazley will be one of those replacement players.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Sunday, the G-League, which is the NBA&#8217;s developmental league, revealed the rosters for the Up Next Game. The Up Next Game is the G-League equivalent of the NBA&#8217;s All-Star Game. Moreover, this is a chance for fans and front-office personnel to view prospects who could be called up or drafted(off the Ignite). G-League Up [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5013,"featured_media":62691,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,62,556],"tags":[4283],"class_list":["post-62655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nba","category-nba-draft","tag-g-league-ignite"],"modified_by":"Zach Kircher","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5013"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}