The NBA-ification of college basketball continues

The Jake Fischer Latest covers how more and more we are seeing schools turn to the pro game to hire executives to bring a front office structure to their programs

College basketball has never been infused with more NBA flavor than it is now. It's a palpable reality as NCAA play opens all over the country on this Monday.

We recently covered how former G League Ignite guard Thierry Darlan has joined Santa Clara after being granted two years of college eligibility. The same goes for London Johnson, another Ignite product, who even spent parts of last season with the Maine Celtics and Cleveland Charge. Johnson was just ruled eligible for Louisville as a junior himself.

The door between these two levels of basketball has been opened wider than ever before, which should help explain why we've also seen a mass migration of NBA team personnel to the college ranks prior to the new season that is tipping off everywhere as November begins. A space that once featured just a few stray head coaches and assistants from the NBA has seen roughly 50 programs hire general managers to run point on roster construction in the ever-evolving NIL landscape and its countless parallels to the NBA's salary cap system. The college game's transfer portal, when you really think about it, has the feel of both unrestricted and restricted free agency all at once.

So ...

The publication that brought you the deepest look around at how agents negotiate NIL deals on behalf of their collegiate clients is about to take you behind the curtain of daily life for college GMs ... as told through the eyes of multiple former NBA front office executives who have moved into the lead chair in the college game.