I’m a top-5 NBA Draft pick and Ignite alum – the G League program’s shutdown was ‘hard for a lot of us’
DETROIT Pistons rookie Ron Holland II admits that he and his fellow G League Ignite stars found themselves in a peculiar situation last season.
Toward the end of the campaign, Ignite players learned they were playing for a team that would cease to exist in a few weeks.
That's despite at least one of them being contracted for another year.
The Ignite shut down at the end of the 2023-24 season, just four years after it launched.
"It was in the air," Holland, 18, told The U.S. Sun a day before the Pistons selected him at No. 5 in the 2024 NBA Draft.
"It wasn't really surprising that they shut it down."
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Holland said the players tried not to take the decision personally, focusing on finishing the season strong after it became official.
"We knew we had games to play and although it's getting shut down [for] next year, that has nothing to do with this year," the 6-foot-8 forward said.
"So it was nothing to hang our heads about."
Still, Holland said the shutdown was a bitter pill to swallow for many of the Ignite players with guard Dink Pate perhaps affected the most.
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The forward said he and fellow would-be lottery pick Matas Buzelis had to be bearers of bad news and tell their teammate Pate that he was about to be left without a team.
The 6-foot-8 Texas native signed a two-year deal with the program at age 17 in April 2023, taking the mantle of the youngest known professional hooper in the US from Scoot Henderson.
The end of the Ignite put Pate in a tough position as he had lost college basketball eligibility as a pro while being too young to declare for the 2024 draft.
"I know it was hard for a lot of us," Holland said.
"And just being able to tell Dink that... like I said, we kept our mindset and we didn't look down or anything like that.
"We had a lot of games to compete for left so that's really what our mindset was."
We knew we had games to play and although it's getting shut down [for] next year, that has nothing to do with this year.
Ron Holland
Pate ended up signing with the G League's Mexico City Capitanes for 2024-25 in early July.
The Ignite proved to be a true talent factory, producing six lottery picks in four years – and Pate might have been the seventh.
But the program had run its course, G League president Shareef Abdur-Rahim told The U.S. Sun in early June.
"The landscape, it's not even recognizable from when we started. It's just a totally different world," Abdur-Rahim said.
"We started the Ignite because young kids needed a place.
"Young kids that wanted to play or have a career, start their professional career – they needed a place. They didn't have a place at the time.
"And now, with NIL and all those... you have that."
However, Abdur-Rahim was confident that the Ignite's contribution to basketball wouldn't be forgotten thanks to players like Holland.
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"You'll continue to hear 'ex-player from G League Ignite' as they continue to grow and develop, and have good seasons and good careers," he said.
"That will continue the legacy."