The NBA and the Players Association seek to lower the age limit to 18 for athletes to have the option of skipping one year of college, two major hurdles stand in the way of an agreement, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver and NBPA executive director Michele Roberts are pushing for agents to provide medical information to teams regarding draft prospects, Wojnarowski relays. Also, the NBA wants players required to attend and participate, to varying degrees, in the pre-draft combine.
Withholding medical records has been one effective tool for agents and players to ensure which team drafts them. Requiring them to provide that information would alter those plans and give organizations more intel on prospective players and their health.
“Some organizations are run better than others,” one prominent agent told ESPN. “A lot of success comes from a player getting into the right situation at the right time. If I can do something that influences that, why would I give that up?”
If an agreement can be reached, high school seniors would be eligible to declare for the NBA Draft starting in 2022. The current ‘one-and-done’ rule came into effect as part of the 2005 Collective Bargaining Agreement, making the draft-eligible age 19, giving prospects the option of one year in college or playing overseas for one season.
Earlier this week, it was announced that the G League will offer an alternative to one-and-one. Starting in 2019, select contracts worth $125K will be offered to top prospects who are at least 18 years old but aren’t yet eligible for the NBA draft. The standard G-League salary is $35K.
“The right situation at the right time” means near an ocean, esp Cali NY and if Riley was less trigger-happy, Miami.
So I guess I’m rooting for required disclosure. It’s fair!
I get this, I really do. And I hate one and done. But the NBA needs to provide these kids with a parachute. If the kid suffers a major injury or just isn’t as good as he thinks he is, then they should be allowed to have their amateur status reinstated, or the players association should provide scholarships to technical colleges or something, anything. These kids are making major decisions at age 17, influenced by agents who are under huge pressure to make money. Give them some kind of fall back when it doesn’t work out.
They have a fall back. That is what college is for. They should not have additional fall back options because their greed made them try something they weren’t ready for. If they get the right make the decision to go pro at 17, then they need to be forced to live with that decision. And if you think they are too young to have that happen, then they are probably too young to go pro in the first place.
In essence, this should be called the “Ball clause” bcuz they’re just doing it bcuz of the Ball brothers… If you’re good enough for NBA then let them get drafted out of HS, but if they don’t get drafted they should let them enroll in college
Nope, unless they pay for it themselves. Scholarships should not have to be held in limbo until after the NBA draft. Everyone only ever looks at this issue from the POV of the player, but the NCAA and the NBA have a right to a fair deal too regardless of the public opinion of them.