By Meagan Gonzalez
The NBA draft has been up for much discussion this season as people feel the age of the draft is due for a change. Since the 2006 draft, the rules have been as follows: all drafted players must be at least 19 years old during the calendar year of the draft. To determine whether a player is eligible for a given year’s draft, subtract 19 from the year of the draft. If the player was born during or before that year, he is eligible. In addition, any player who is not an “international player,” as defined in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, must be at least one year removed from the graduation of his high school class. These rules mandated that players spend at least one year in college that way coaches can see their performance in higher competition before they evaluate them as valuable draft picks.
This often leads to players following through with the “one-and-done rule,” where they play one year of college basketball and then enter the draft. Some of these one-and-done players include Carmelo Anthony from Syracuse, Kevin Durant from Texas Tech, Anthony Davis from Kentucky, Kevin Love from UCLA, Michael Beasley from Kansas State, and Shareef Abdur-Rahim from UC Berkeley.
This issue has been brought to the surface recently due to Duke University star Zion Williamson, who suffered a knee injury during their game against the University of North Carolina. Some feel this is just the latest example of how the NCAA exploits prospects, who risk their future by playing college basketball.
The NBA has recently submitted a formal proposal to the National Basketball Players Association that lowers the draft-eligibility from age 18 to 19, according to USA Today Sports reporters. By letting players be drafted straight out of high school, they then bypass millions of dollars in which they pay to go to college. It has also been stated that the college community no longer wants these one-and-done players if they are just going to drop out after one year.
Officials state that if this compromise is to be made, it will not pass until the 2022 draft, as they want to give teams time to prepare for the change. ESPN reported that the NBA wants agents to provide medical reports on players and mandate attendance and some participation in the draft combine, that way teams can make a better selection in the draft.
Meagan Gonzalez can be reached at meagan.gonzalez@student.shu.edu or on Twitter @meagangonzalezz.