Texas center Mo Bamba is on track to be a top-10 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, to the point where he actually laughed when prompted about a potential return to Austin for a second season of college basketball. It is tough to blame the 7-footer for failing to see the upside in a potential second year of college and, in Bamba’s case, it appears he actually have would have preferred a jump to the highest level of the sport immediately following high school.
Bamba appeared on ESPN’s The Jump alongside Rachel Nichols, Byron Scott, and Tracy McGrady on Wednesday and the top prospect indicated that he “could have had a year of NBA development and had a year head start” before saying that “would love to have that opportunity if it was there for me.”
The 19-year-old likely isn’t alone in his thinking and, with that in mind, the question was posed to him just hours after an NCAA commission headlined by Condoleeza Rice recommended the end of the one-and-done rule. Of course, it has to be noted that the body making that recommendation can’t actually change a rule instituted by the NBA itself but Bamba is the latest to believe that simply bypassing the college game altogether would have been better for his on-court development.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCLfvvoEadg
“It would have taken my game to the next level,” Bamba stated. “Because now, what’s so night and day between being a college student-athlete, is that you got to split up times for different things — all right, now I have to actually study and write this essay; I have to crank it out because it’s due tomorrow at 10 a.m. But now, I’m literally, the only thing I’m studying is myself. I’m really, like, fully invested in my body, and I’m really liking this professional thing.”
Bamba did speak glowingly about his stint in college, referring to the last few months as “actually pretty darn special” but the message was clear in that he believes an extra year of professional service would have been beneficial. In the case of uber-prospects like Bamba, Duke’s Marvin Bagley, Arizona’s Deandre Ayton and others, it is tough to argue and the groundswell toward the elimination of any restriction on NBA Draft entry continues.
Because Mo Bamba was effective and provided NBA scouts with a glimpse of his upside during one collegiate season, the one-and-done rule will likely do nothing aside from remove one year of prospective professional pay from his bank account. He is likely to make millions of dollars when the draft arrives in late June and, with strong development, could be in line for tens of millions more on a second contract. Still, there are players who will never see their stock higher than as high school seniors and, beyond that, the notion that an elite prospect must operate through something of a charade at the college level (i.e. Ben Simmons) isn’t appetizing to anyone.
