Jalen Green had finally landed on the decision, so, cracking his knuckles and grinning, he approached his mom.
It was April 2020, and while his mom Bree Purganan was watching TV in their Fresno, Calif. apartment, the potential top pick of the 2021 NBA Draft ventured out of his bedroom and dropped the news.
“I’m going to the G League,” Green said.
Green and his family had weighed the options during car rides home from practice and informal meetings in his living room.
Option 1: Choose between one of his 18 collegiate offers.
Option 2: Go pro and earn $500,000.
He chose option two, becoming the first high school prospect to sign with the G League Ignite, a newly created development team designed for top prospects as an alternative to playing in the NCAA.
Purganan cited Green’s desire to be challenged as the reason he went to the G League, the NBA’s official minor league. There, he could learn how his play fits within the complex system of the NBA and possibly be a step ahead of college kids.
“I think it was driving him crazy. It was like, ‘Okay, I need to make a decision,” Purganan told The Post. “There was no more talking about it. It was ‘I’m going here and that was it.’”
Under Ignite’s head coach Brian Shaw, the 19-year-old thrived. Green improved his shot-creating abilities, went head to head with G League vets and honed his quick first step. As a 6-foot-6 shooting guard, Green served as his team’s top scoring option, averaging 32 minutes and 17.9 points a game. In the Ignite’s first playoff game, he put up 30 in a loss against the Toronto 905.
Even with his offensive prowess, analysts touch upon Green’s mediocre defense and his lanky build. The shooting guard is currently listed at 178 pounds — 27 pounds under the 205-pound average for his position, according to Bleacher Report. His streaky shooting has also been questioned. Green averaged a solid 36.5 percent from deep during the G League’s 15 games but went ice cold two games and went 0 for 7 from three.
According to his mom, Green actively works on his flaws and uses them as fuel — something he learned from her while growing up in Fresno. During his three years at San Joaquin Memorial High School, head coach Brad Roznovsky recalled his former star player tweaked his jumper and made hundreds pack into the school’s Memorial Gym for home games. He later transferred to Prolific Prep Academy his senior year, where he was named Sports Illustrated All-American Player of the Year.
“Jay wants to be great… he just wants to be Jalen Green,” Roznovsky told The Post. “Jay wants to build his own legacy.”
Some draft boards currently pin Green as the 2021 NBA Draft’s No. 2 pick behind Cade Cunningham. If chosen by the Rockets on Thursday, he will have the chance to reignite the franchise as it moves on from James Harden, with an explosive playing style that’s been compared to perennial All-Star guard Bradley Beal. Another Ignite member wing Jonathan Kuminga is expected to be drafted mid-lottery.
Before he became a top recruit in the country, a 5-year-old Green would chuck up shots at a hoop on his uneven driveway in Livingston, Calif., along with dragging his grandfather Jamie and his mom out of the house to play with him. Green and his family later moved to Fresno when he was in third grade.
As Green grew, Purganan had her son test out different sports such as football and tennis. Soon, though, Purganan realized basketball was the sport he connected with the most, with her son not complaining when practices came up during the week.
“He was so tired, but he loved it,” Purganan said. “It was nothing ever that we had to push him to do. It was him always asking us to do it.”
When he was free, Green gathered friends in his neighborhood and walked 5 minutes to Koligian Park. Purganan recalled Green would play for hours on only one half of the court — the one with a single rimmed hoop. He joined a local AAU circuit in middle school and started dunking frequently in eighth grade.
For high school, Green enrolled in San Joaquin Memorial for three years. His former trainer and AAU program director Demetrius Porter recalled Green would work out starting at 3 p.m. and ending after 9 p.m., or until he was kicked out of Memorial Gym. Porter helped expand Green’s scoring abilities, working on his pullups and runners.
“I always personally trained him for beyond high school. I knew he was going to conquer that,” Porter told The Post. “It was more of developing him and getting him ready for when he went to college or when he started playing with the big boys.”
During rides home from practice in Roznovsky’s Ford F150, Green would gush about how he wanted to reach the NBA — “I want to be great” — Roznovsky recalled Green saying his sophomore year. He would later lead San Joaquin to back-to-back Central Section Division II titles before transferring to Prolific. Green then joined Ignite this past season.
Although he hasn’t been drafted yet, Green recently inked a multi-year shoe deal with Adidas. One of his first orders of business was renovating Koligian Park.
On a ribbon cutting ceremony July 17, Green scored the renovated court’s first basket: a one-handed windmill dunk, which was flushed through one of the court’s now two single rimmed hoops. Afterward, he took out the time to snap pictures with fans and autograph basketballs and Adidas gear.
The 19-year-old stayed for about three hours before heading back to Los Angeles. But throughout the day when Purganan was nearby Green, she saw her son couldn’t stop smiling.
In Fresno, he’s already built the foundation of his legacy. The next step comes Thursday night.
