The NBA is starting to turn the corner on the one-and-done rule. There’s a real possibility that they get rid of it all together.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced to the media following the most recent rounds of meetings in Las Vegas his desire for wanting to change the one-and-done rule that has been in place since 2006.
This rule was implemented to not allow players fresh out of high school to be drafted straight into the NBA. Currently, players have to be at least 19 years old to enter the process. In most cases, prospects enroll into a college for a year and then declare for the NBA draft. There are a few other cases in which players have gone overseas for a year. Regardless, 19-years-old is the bare minimum.
The idea of the one-and-done rule was to bring in more developed players for the league. College basketball has been benefiting immensely from seeing these players in college. We’ve seen this in previous years with prospects like Anthony Davis, Andre Drummond, Ben Simmons, Karl-Anthony Towns drawing massive crowds.
RELATED: ADAM SILVER SAYS NBA WILL MOVE UP NBA DRAFT
As a whole, the rule hinders player development and it drastically hurts college basketball fans because they would not want to build relationships with one-and-done players. It’s also harder to market the game to fans.
Here is what Silver said on Tuesday according to a report by the USA Today:
“My personal view is that we’re ready to make that change,” Silver said after the conclusion of the latest round of owners' meetings. “It won’t come immediately, but…when I weighed the pros and cons – (and) given that (former Secretary of State) Condoleezza Rice and her (NCAA) commission has recommended to the NBA that those one-and-done players now come directly into the league and, in essence, the college community is saying ‘We do not want those players anymore,’ I mean that sort of tips the scale in my mind that we should be taking a serious look at lowering our age to 18."
Unfortunately, the rule is in place until 2021 and no changes to this rule will be changed immediately. If any changes were to be made the league and the National Basketball Players Association must collectively bargain to do so. Silver spoke with owners about the potential move at the Vegas meetings.
"We did discuss that, both with the labor relations committee and with the board, and...the sense was we should be engaging with the Players Association on the minimum age to come into the NBA, and we presented the pros and cons of going from 19 to 18, in conjunction with that presentation we discussed a lot about the development of younger players prior to them coming into the professional ranks," Silver said. "We've had several discussions with both the NCAA and USA Basketball about engaging with them, with players, beginning roughly at 14 years old, and especially with those elite players (who) we know statistically have a high likelihood, when they're identified at that age, of being top tier players, of coming into the league. So I think the next step will be to sit down with the Players Association."
What do you think about the possible decision to ditch the one-and-done rule that's been used in the NBA for over a decade now? Let us know in the comments below!