“There will be some things he misses out on, but I’m not worried at all — not with the talent and skill set he has,” Paul said, and added: “No matter what we do this year, he still has to be developed in the N.B.A. You see it even with the highest draft picks — it’s not like you come into the league as a rookie and set the league on fire.”

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When Paul began representing Bazley, a McDonald’s All-American from Cincinnati, one of his first missions was dissuading the teenager from trying to cast himself as some sort of pioneer.

Joining the G League out of high school undoubtedly would have exposed Bazley to a higher level of competition. But the working conditions are distinctly minor league, with commercial flights and modest arenas, compared to those at an N.C.A.A. power like Syracuse. The slender Bazley also would have found himself competing against older and much more physically imposing players whose overriding focus is securing their own N.B.A. call-up.

“Right away I knew that the G League was not going to be good for Darius,” Paul said. “It’s great for some people, but there was no upside for him.”

Players in Bazley’s situation have more often chosen to play abroad in Australia (Oklahoma City guard Terrance Ferguson) or China (Emmanuel Mudiay of the Knicks), or work out on their own with private trainers (Utah’s Dante Exum) for a year until becoming draft eligible.

The Knicks rookie Mitchell Robinson slipped to the second round of June’s draft, down to the 36th overall pick, after he elected not to attend Western Kentucky and spent a season largely out of sight. A similar fate could befall Bazley, but Paul contends that the three months he spends as an intern, to complement daily strength and skills work, will give Bazley a taste of “a business that actually aligns with his interests way more than taking History 101” — and put him in an environment N.B.A. teams can tap into for character study.