Report: Kobe Bryant's Mamba Sports Academy Could House G League Select Team

The NBA is considering the Mamba Sports Academy to house its Los Angeles-based Select G League team, which will feature Jalen Green and Isaiah Todd next season. 

Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reported Green and Todd are "under the impression" the team will be based at the Mamba Academy, which was founded by the late Kobe Bryant. Additional venues are still under consideration.

The two prep stars announced they would be signing developmental deals with the G League last week. Players in the new developmental program will earn salaries up to $500,000 and be eligible for endorsements that could take their compensation into the seven-figure range. Players will also be given a full scholarship to attend the school of their choosing. 

"I wanted to get better overall and prepare myself for the NBA because that's my ultimate goal," Green told Haynes last week. "Everything was planned out right and set up for me to succeed. I think this was a good decision at the end of the day. I'm still going to be able to go back to college and finish school. So, it's not really that I'm missing out on college because I can go back and finish whenever I need to. School is a big thing in my family."

The G League pathway is seen as an alternative to college basketball, which does not allow schools to offer players compensation. The NCAA decided to allow schools to allow players to profit off their likeness last year, but it has not yet gone into effect.

Projected 2020 lottery picks LaMelo Ball and RJ Hampton chose to play last season in Australia's NBL rather than attend college. James Wiseman's college career ended after three games when he chose not to return to Memphis after serving a suspension for receiving impermissible benefits.

The Mamba Academy was founded in 2018 by Bryant as a hub for youth sports development. The facility has five basketball courts and a state-of-the-art recovery department for young athletes.

Bryant died Jan. 26 in a helicopter crash that also killed his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, who trained at the Academy and had hopes of playing in the WNBA in the future.