Futures Basketball League to launch in April for U18 players - ESPN

A new league backed by investments from LeBron James and Kevin Durant is aiming to reshape top-level youth basketball.

The Futures League announced plans Tuesday to launch in April 2027, targeting the top 120 under-18 players in the country with hopes to replace a patchwork of summer league tournaments and travel leagues, many run by shoe companies.

«The top 150 basketball players under 18 in the country play on over 200 different teams in seven different leagues in the spring and summer season,» said Jason Stein, the league's chairman and co-founder. «And it's not fair they don't get fair value for their NIL and they don't get professional coaching structure — so this needs to exist.»

Stein said players will be paid through NIL deals and maintain their eligibility for college and high school. The start-up hopes to combine the television appeal of the Little League World Series, the in-person excitement once enjoyed by the And1 Live Tour and the emphasis on player development of European youth sports academies.

Combined, Stein said, the Futures League is attempting to build something that is both commercially successful and helps the much-maligned youth basketball development pipeline in the United States. Currently, travel league circuits sponsored by different shoe companies don't play each other, meaning the best players aren't always competing against each other. Many of those players don't receive NIL deals for their participation. Then there are the concerns about too many games and travel leagues that emphasize individual performance over team-building skills.

«It's something that I wish that I would have had when I was playing when I was a youngster,» said former NBA star Derrick Rose, an investor in the league