Elite high school prospect Jalen Lecque may skip college basketball and declare for the 2019 draft, according to Jonathan Givony of ESPN.
Lecque, who committed to North Carolina State in October, could be eligible because he is in his fifth year of high school at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire. He reclassified after his junior year and claims he has already met all the NCAA guidelines to graduate from high school.
“I could be a freshman on a college campus right now,” Lecque said. “I am eligible for the [2019] draft. I’m a fifth-year senior, but I’m also eligible for the draft because of my grades.”
A 6’4″ point guard, Lecque plans to delay a final decision until his high school season ends in March. Because he didn’t receive a diploma from his last school, he will need to petition the NBA by sending paperwork to the league office to declare himself eligible by the April 21 deadline for early entry into the draft.
Lecque is considered the best athlete in high school basketball, Givony adds, with a build similar to Russell Westbrook and Kris Dunn. Seven NBA teams are expected to send representatives to a tournament in the Bahamas for a closer look at Lecque and some other top prospects.
“I want to be a great college player, but my end goal is to help my family,” he said. “I want to be a concrete Round 1 player if I do make that decision. If I’m guaranteed a Round 1 position, then you never know. I could see myself doing it if I am in a good position at the end of the year.”
If he could be a freshman, then he should be a freshman and that would take care of the requirement. I am sick of everyone acting like it is a punishment to learn your craft for a year before getting paid millions of dollars in pro ball. There is no other profession in the world where you can skip all training and just go in as a really highly paid employee. All the NBA is asking is for players to go a single year in college. That’s not asking much. Personally I would require a bachelor’s degree before allowing any of them to join the league. Try getting a job at a top law firm with just a year of college, no matter how much of an arguing prodigy you are.
This is someone who has been training his whole life, to say that he’s skipping training by not going to college is insulting.
Your analogy is also incorrect. Anybody could apply for a job at a top law firm straight out of high school. For athletes, their application is entering the draft. It does not make sense for basketball players to have to go through a year of college if they want to APPLY for a job in the NBA.
The problem is the fault is not only with the player in my mind. The fault is also with the teams that would hire them. The individual teams of course would hire someone with the athletic ability, but without trained basketball knowledge, just due to the immense competition and their own hubris. They will think they can train players better than college coaches that have been doing it for decades. Pro teams do not have the time and energy to devote to training these players. It’s proven time and time again with 3rd and 4th year options not being picked up. This is a league where you HAVE to be ready to play because teams cannot afford to keep you on the payroll when you are learning.
Your analogy is just silly as well. You CANNOT apply to that law firm until you are a member of the bar in that state. You don’t get to do that straight out of high school.
You’re ridiculous lollll
Ridiculous. Skip all training? This kid didn’t become highly sought after by never training.
Most kids who have the opportunity to go to the NBA, have spent their entire lives preparing for it. One year at college to make Joe Nobody on message boards feel better about himself, is pointless and stupid.
He should not have to give a year of unpaid labour. It’s his prerogative as a performer to want to be compensated commensurate to his ability. It can’t be a free market until it’s inconvenient.
Since when is going to college and playing basketball considered “labor?” People are only looking at this problem from the point of view of the player. I don’t know why, I guess it’s because that’s who they envision themselves being.
No one ever wants to look at it from the perspective of the owner that is paying millions to a player that has yet to compete against top competition in anything but an All Star setting (AAU games).
No one wants to see the perspective of the GM that is forced to gamble on players that are not ready simply because he if he doesn’t the other guy will and on the off chance it works, he will lose his job. Of course on the much more likely event that it doesn’t work, he will probably have already lost his job just like the Phoenix GM that blew the #4 and #7 picks in 2016.
No one wants to see it from the perspective of the college coach that has devoted their lives to teaching these kids the game of basketball AND how to be adults.
No one want to see it from the perspective of the pro coach. A person whose job has a very limited shelf life. He cannot afford to spend his time teaching kids how to play. He’ll be gone by the time they learn.
And people only look at the “pie in the sky” future of the players instead of the cold reality. For every LeBron James that made it, there were many guys not even drafted that didn’t. Sure they went overseas and played for pretty good money, but they could have easily done that after 4 years in college with a bit of a safety net in the event of an injury.
What’s frankly weird, is that everyone always makes fun of LaVar Ball for being blustery and wrong most of the time, and yet they seem to argue the same points of college being a waste of time that he does.
If he were a first round talent in baseball he would get millions to hone his craft in the minors
Yes and baseball players are given many years in a tiered minor league system to learn their craft. Basketball doesn’t have that. If basketball players are not ready to play almost immediately, even as first rounders, they are gone.
Look at Wade Baldwin. He was a mid first rounder that was released after his 1st season. Now he is on a 2 way deal hoping to stay in the league, but the odds are not with him. He is barely hanging on to the last remnants of his NBA career when in another reality he would be preparing for his college senior season and hoping to get drafted in 2019 with two more years of training under his belt.
@hiflew is correct.
Nobody is owed a job. The way ballers get coddled by society is insane and unearned. The Butler situation is a result of this. The players are immature because nothing personal is expected of them.
Calling HS basketball “training” is sadly funny. HS training for anything is satisfactory for minimum wage labor and not much else.
fifth year of high school lol