The NBA’s eligibility rules for its youngest players may be changing very soon. The league is reportedly looking into changing the age restrictions that have forced young basketball players into the grips of the NCAA for more than a decade.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported late Thursday that the NBA — including commissioner Adam Silver and National Basketball Players Association executive director Michele Roberts — will begin talks to reshape the rule with the Commission on College Basketball.
With momentum gathering to reshape the one-and-done draft entry rule, NBA commissioner Adam Silver and NBPA executive director Michele Roberts met with members of the new Commission on College Basketball in Washington D.C., on Thursday, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 17, 2017
Wojnarowski reported the two met on Thursday with the commission, which is chaired by Condoleezza Rice and started in the wake of the FBI investigation into college basketball corruption.
Though it’s something that will change only after it’s negotiated through collective bargaining, it seems like the momentum is finally there to change the rule in some way that would presumably scale back the restrictions.
Nevertheless, there’s a growing belief within the league that Silver’s desire to end the one-and-done — the ability of college basketball players to enter the NBA draft after playing one year in college — could be pushing the sport closer to high school players having the opportunity to directly enter the league again. For that change to happen, though, the union would probably need to cede the one-and-done rule and agree to a mandate that players entering college must stay two years before declaring for the draft.
The union has long wanted players able to enter the NBA draft out of high school, but they ceded that in the 2006 collective bargaining agreement.
Many players have lamented the rule over the years. Terrance Ferguson is certainly not a fan of the one-and-done. Ben Simmons called the NCAA a “dirty business” last month, and even Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski has said recently that he’s for players being able to skip college and go straight to the pros.
But leadership in the NBA saying it needs to change is about as clear a sign that it’s actually happening as we’ve seen.
