After turning heads and kicking off NBA All-Star 2024 during the Rising Stars Competition, Cleveland Cavaliers rookie forward Emoni Bates has one more left in him. On the final day of events, Bates will again be the Cavs’ opening act, participating in the NBA G League Up Next Game.
The event features an exciting new tournament-style format where each team will have its influencer general manager, who will draft their squad, customize their team’s jerseys, and stream the game on their digital platforms. Additionally, the NBA G League Up Next Game will stream live on nbagleague.com, the G League App, the NBA G League’s YouTube channel, and the official NBA App on top of the co-stream on the individual digital platforms of the team’s general managers.
Finishing tenth in fan voting, Bates will be playing for Team BallIsLife, run by influencer Austin Mills, a TikTok basketball influencer and content creator partnered with Ballislife.com. This American sports website provides basketball coverage and video mixtapes, specializing in creating highlights of high school players and delivering up-to-date coverage in and around basketball at any level.
Considering that Bates was once a high school hoops’ social media hype beast, the pairing with Mills and Team BallIsLife is a fit in heaven. In fact, the vibes are so immaculate between the Cavs rookie and his G League Up Next Team, Mills, who said he was on a mission during the virtual event, took Bates with the first-overall pick in the player draft.
While Mills picked Bates first overall, coaching Team BallIsLife will be coached by a coaching staff member from the Indiana Mad Ants, the NBA G League affiliate of the Indiana Pacers. The format of the NBA G League Up Next Game will feature four teams of seven players competing in two semifinal games. The winner of each semifinal will face off in a Championship game. The event will take place in the Indiana Convention Center on Sunday, at G League Park, during the NBA crossover event, giving it the vibes of a streetball game.
Bates, the 6-8 rookie, will play in the NBA G League Up Next Game for the first time. Overall Bates has appeared in 10 games with the Cavs, who selected him with the 49th overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. The sweet-shooting swingman is averaging 18.4 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 33.7 minutes in 10 games with the Cleveland Charge, the NBA G League affiliate of the Cavs.
Ever since the Cavs took Bates in the second round, they’ve kept him relatively under the radar. In his ten appearances with Cleveland, Bates has averaged 1.8 points, 1.0 rebounds, and 0.6 assists in 7.6 minutes per game, soaking up the limited opportunities during garbage time.
The plan has always been for the Cavs to let Bates play with the Charge and fine-tune his game to become a legitimate threat in the main club’s rotation when he fits the mold of what Cleveland is trying to construct.
That’s why you see such flashy numbers for Bates while playing for the Charge versus the Cavs. They want him to find his love for basketball after being in a pressure cooker throughout his young career, and clearly, the NBA feels like it’s time to showcase the work Bates, the Charge, and the Cavs have all put in to help him develop into the player he can be.
After a strong showcase against some of the best of the NBA’s future, Bates can close the book on an NBA All-Star journey by making some noise in the NBA G League Up Next Game. With Izan Almansa joining Bates on Team BallIsLife for the NBA G League Up Next Game, it’s going to be explosive.
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