NBA Leadership Warms Up to Re-Opening NBA Draft Directly to High School Players – a Change That Might Prompt Larger NCAA Amateurism Policy Questions
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No More "One and Dones"? NBA Leadership Warms Up to Re-Opening the NBA Draft Directly to High School Players – a Change That Might Prompt Larger NCAA Amateurism Policy Questions
Executive Summary
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver cites the possibility that the next Collective Bargaining Agreement for the NBA may lower the age minimum to play in the NBA
The proliferation of NIL activities by college athletes (and high school athletes) is one trend referenced by the NBA Commissioner as to why NBA’s age limit needs reconsideration
Some underclassmen may see NIL income as a reason to stay in college and forego entering the NBA draft and risk losing “bird-in-hand” NIL income.
NBA’s life skills development programming for its players in areas like money management, nutrition, time management, and mental health would be areas that could positively impact younger players entering the league.
NIL policy changes have included the ability for NCAA student-athletes to use agents for purposes of marketing and securing NIL deals (sometimes the same agents and agencies who represent pro athletes for draft purposes)
The NCAA’s amateurism rules regulating men’s basketball student-athletes with eligibility remaining include a few prohibitions specific to how agents may be used
Key foundational questions tied to the NCAA’s agents, NIL, and other amateurism policies come to the forefront in light of NIL’s impact and the increasing presence of agents
According to a recent ESPN article, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said last week that he is "hopeful" there will be a change in the NBA's age limit in the next collective bargaining agreement, calling it "the right thing to do."
"I think there's an opportunity [to change it]," Silver said in his annual news conference at the conclusion of the league's board of governors meetings during summer league.
"It's [based on] larger conversations than just whether we go from 19 to 18, but I'm on record: When I balance all of these various considerations, I think that would be the right thing to do and I am hopeful that that's a change we make in this next collective bargaining cycle, which will happen in the next couple years."
This isn't the first time the idea of changing the age limit has come up in the past years, including when the NBA and National Basketball Players Association considered the issue before negotiations ultimately broke down.
But Silver told ESPN that changing the age limit will "clearly be on the table" in the upcoming collective bargaining talks, which are currently underway between the league and players' union, led by new executive director Tamika Tremaglio.
"It may be the case that it's in all of our interests that we start impacting with these young players, especially because in our sport they are identified at such a young age," Silver said, "and begin working with them on their development then, not just basketball skills but increasingly there's a focus on their mental health, their diets, just helping them build character and all of the important values around the sport."
The NBA changed its age limit from 18 to 19 in 2005, after a run of high-school-to-NBA prospects that included Hall of Famers Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady, in addition to LeBron James and Dwight Howard in the 10 years before that.
Under current NCAA amateurism rules applicable to the professional draft, men’s basketball players may protect their NCAA eligibility while testing the NBA draft waters.
However, a men’s basketball student-athlete will lose his eligibility IF:
1. He enters the NBA Draft or hires an NCAA-certified agent prior to or without requesting an NBA Undergraduate Advisory Committee evaluation from the NBA.
2. He agrees orally or in writing to be represented by any individual other than an NCAA certified agent for the purpose of marketing athletic skill or ability to a professional organization or team.
3. He agrees orally or in writing to be represented by an NCAA-certified agent outside of the permissible timeframe allowed by NCAA legislation.
4. He accepts any benefits from an individual other than an NCAA-certified agent.
5. He accepts any benefits from an NCAA-certified agent that are not expressly permitted by NCAA legislation or outside of the permissible timeframe allowed by NCAA legislation.
6. He participates in a tryout with an NBA team that lasts longer than 48-hours (with the exception of the NBA Draft Combine and the G League Elite Camp held in connection with the Combine), which he has not personally financed, or his NCAA-certified agent has not financed.
7. He misses class to participate in a tryout, including travel to and from the tryout (with the exception of the NBA Draft Combine and G League Elite Camp held in connection with the combine).
8. He enters the NBA Draft AND does not take the appropriate steps to withdraw and declare his intention to resume intercollegiate participation.
9. He enters the NBA Draft AND is drafted by a professional team.
The advent of monetized NIL activities being permissible for college athletes to pursue coincides with the NCAA relaxing its long-standing prohibition against student-athletes using agents and agencies to assist in representing them in athletic-related transactions.
The NCAA’s interim NIL policy (and many states that have enacted corresponding NIL laws) have made it permissible for student-athletes to use agents and agencies for NIL marketing and NIL deal prospecting without the student-athlete compromising their competition eligibility. This commercial dynamic now exists front and center for college athletes and some high school athletes and this has the NBA pondering whether 19— or 18—is the right age minimum for its league.
The increased interactions between college athletes and agents (whether for NIL or professional playing opportunities) could lead to an industry-wide look at the foundational elements of modern college sports.
Here are a few amateurism-policy questions the NCAA membership may consider sooner than later…
Will college athletes be permitted to have agents to help assist and advocate for the athlete while in college on matters such as scholarship negotiations? Player discipline by a coach? Other participatory matters and support services?
Will college athletes see NIL opportunities with pro teams and leagues? [Note: pro sport leagues and teams may have policies restricting interactions including marketing engagements with draft eligible individuals such as a Division I student-athlete— although some leagues and teams have done NIL deals with current student-athletes.]
Will the NCAA membership be inclined to be more forgiving with its amateurism policies should an individual coming out of high school (like an NBA draftee out of high school) that does not make the NBA in their first year or two and allow that individual to restore their college eligibility? A “yes” here could create a college sports reentry path for that individual (in any sport) to compete at college level for a season or two even though they briefly professionalized.
In the end, lowering the NBA draft age may be the NBA’s counter move to the reality that some men’s basketball student-athletes may see NIL bird-in-hand money as the top reason to stay in school and hold off on adding their talents to the NBA when their draft-stock and roster security in the NBA is unknown. As Mit Wilner, a Kansas City-based sports attorney, told On3 recently, there likely will be some players who either don’t declare for the draft or who withdraw their name from it because of deals offered by NIL collectives.
“There is talk in the NIL [and] college athletics world about collectives specifically crafting deals to keep certain players in school,” Winter told On3. “I think some players that are borderline draft prospects will decide to take that guaranteed money instead of taking their chances with the draft. This will add another area of intrigue around the draft’s withdrawal deadline.”
Athletics Veritas is presented for information purposes only and should not be considered advice or counsel on NCAA compliance matters. For guidance on NCAA rules and processes, always consult your university’s athletics compliance office, conference office, and/or the NCAA.
