There have been talks going on between the NBA and the NBPA (National Basketball Players Association) on whether or not to lower the age limit for the league to eighteen. Apparently, both organizations have reached a stalemate in negotiations because of some conflicting requests.
There are two conditions with the negotiations that people seem to be fired up about. The first one being that player agents would need to get medical information on prospective drafts. This is supposedly a want of NBA commissioner Adam Silver. The second one is that the League wants to create a mandate to have players attend the NBA combine.
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The lower age limit can be used by some players as an alternative to having to go to college to play and ultimately hope they get signed. According to CBS Sports, this is also an alternative for high school prospects in the interim while the policies get moved around. The contracts that the kids might see themselves getting could be $125,000 if they're some of the better players on the court.
When this new policy will come into play is not known as of now, but the NBA does hope to move things along with the NBPA so the 2022 draft can feel the new change out. This could then lead into the "double draft" period which could provide both elite high school players and those who missed the preps and pros cuts.
It can be argued that the first condition could prevent players with serious medical issues—like a bad case of asthma—from getting in. This means that the teams could ultimately save money on having to provide care for them if something happened. This might even save the life of someone, although, it's safe to say that most people playing sports should be safe from terrible illness.
The negative side is that it might also turn down players that are absolutely incredible. It could even prevent people that don't feel comfortable giving medical information from playing as they might not think that it is necessary. It can basically bread a world of distrust from certain people as they consider that extremely private information.