In wake of the NCAA pay-for-play college basketball scandal, the National Basketball Association has proposed an alternative that’ll allow it to strengthen relationships with top-ranking high school players.
During the past week Carmelo Anthony, Barack Obama, and Lebron James have all spoken out against the NCAA and floated the idea of creating a G league alternative.
For months, the NBA has been in discussing plans to get involved again with high school players, according to ESPN host Brian Windhorst. The plan will allow 18-year-old players to enter the NBA draft or join the G League (minor league basketball association) and earn a decent income. The NBA would be able to make contact with players prior to high school graduation, but not to the extent of a EuroLeague farm system.
“We are looking at changing the relationship we have with players before they reach the NBA… This is a complex challenge, and there’s still a lot of discussion about how it’s going to happen, but we all see the need to step in”, an anonymous high-ranking league official explained to ESPN.
The blueprint could be put into motion as early as this summer of 2018, but the investigation of the NCAA scandal must be concluded by the Commission on College Basketball which is chaired by Condoleezza Rice.
In the 2005 unanimous bargaining agreement, the NBA eradicated the rule permitting prep prospects to go straight into the basketball league from high school. It limited draft-eligible age to 19 or one year removed from high school graduation which is known as the one-and-done phenomenon.
However, NBA commissioner Adam Silver expressed his intention of ending the one and done rule and says the NBA plans on reverting back to its old process.
“From a league standpoint, on one hand, we think we have a better draft when we’ve had an opportunity to see these young players play an elite level before they come into the NBA… There is no question that they can perform in the NBA at 18 years old.”
