The D League model has pretty much been shown to be a bust. You are right about Football but kids are ready in a lot cases right out of high school to play basketball. The best player in the league right now never played in college and the guy he supplanted didn't either. More likely this kids would end up in Europe and I could see some of the owners of the top basketball teams in Europe deciding to create a league of their own, Basketball is a big sport in Europe, if those owners didn't have the money I am sure the owners of soccer clubs might be interested in another revenue stream. Bring the young guys over playing right out of high school make a splash luring a big name or two away from the NBA and Boom instant league. The people who stand to lose money, the Schools, the NCAA, the Networks and the NBA aren't going to keep to rocking the boat.
Not sure where all the outrage is coming from, the kid and school basically signed a 1 year contract, both sides keep their end up and shake hands and call it a day.

Most kids drafted to play baseball know they will never make it the big leagues but decide they love the game enough they want to keep playing it as long as they can. Basketball players as a whole seem to have a different mentality, they think are good enough to play and they want to play NOW, not go to Charlotte or Dayton and ride a bus for a year or two (or longer) and fans don't seem to have much of interest watching that either. There are forty rounds in a baseball draft, two in the basketball.