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Can you tryout for the NBA?

Have you ever watched an NBA game and wondered, if you could of made it to the NBA? But perhaps you never got noticed at college and you have missed your chance to go via your draft. Could you be Andre Ingram and get signed by the Lakers on a 10 day contract and make your mark? You maybe wondering can I tryout for the NBA?

Can you tryout for the NBA? You cannot directly tryout for a NBA team. The NBA G League holds open tryouts which you can attend. If you are signed by a NBA G League team then you have a chance of making the NBA.

We take a look at how you can get to a tryout for a NBA G League team and what the likelihood is of someone making it to the NBA. Before we get stuck in anyone can attend a NBA G League tryout so read on to make your one million to one shot come true.

Does the NBA hold open tryouts?

NBA teams generally do not hold open tryouts, in fact the last open tryout by an NBA team was 18 years ago and that was by the Denver Nuggets. America being the land of opportunity doesn’t give that much opportunity to individuals trying to get into the NBA. Just for your information the four players who were selected from the tryouts by the Denver Nuggets were all eventually cut without making an NBA start.

As mentioned the only way to get into the NBA, apart from the NBA draft, is to attend an NBA G League tryout. These tryouts are open to anyone but they come with a cost.

How much does it cost to tryout for the NBA?

In the current climate there are no tryouts however, it costs roughly $200 for each tryout that a player attends. The price increases if you turn up and pay on the day, through looking through records on the day payment could be up to $100 more. There are also limited spaces at the tryouts and its on a first come, first served basis therefore you need to be quick, as most of the tryouts are limited to 100 people or less.

If you want your best chance of getting into the NBA G League then the best tryout to go to is the National Tryout of the G League. The reason for this is all the coaches and scouts are at this one event therefore, if you pull out your best work at this tryout then your more likely to get noticed by a number of teams. The National Tryout you are playing against the best of the players all over the country therefore, you can gauge at what standard you at and how far away you are from being the best.

What happens at a NBA G-League Tryout

Once you have registered the Head Coach will gather everyone together explain what will happen during the tryout and will also introduce the other staff. The other staff will be running the drills and its important that you listen to what they have to say as they are looking out for specific skills. The coaches will ask you to do half a dozen simple drills so they can just get a feel of the general level that they have in the room.

Once these drills are complete the coaches will split you into teams. The coaches will ask you to run certain plays through the scrimmages. The rest of the tryout will be a scrimmages against various teams. There can be up 100 players who are split into the teams and generally speaking the games will be short (15-20 minutes) and they will be running clock. Therefore, you may not get much court time so you need to make your mark and run the coaches plays. The tryout will then be over and if you are of interest to the NBA G League team then you will be contacted by them.