The NBA One and Done Rule

Since 2005, a player has had to be at least 19 years old or one year out of high school to be eligible for the NBA draft however, the era of High School graduates going directly to the pros is back.

“It’s clear a change will come,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Monday on ESPN’s “Mike & Mike” show.

The issue is simple. The market shows that top players who project to be high draft picks are worth a great deal more than the NCAA’s amateurism rules allow. Their future value is so great, parties interested in doing business with them, whether negotiating their contracts, managing their millions or employing them as endorsers, don’t feel they can wait until they turn pro to try and retain them as clients.

When recruiting, top-20, likely one-and-done recruits to are needed win big. Yet the vast majority of them, if not all, are being heavily pursued by agents and shoe companies. So even if they want to be recruited by the NCAA, they could have already taken payouts. The only hope NCAA recruits have is that they didn’t get caught or try and recruit someone with slightly lesser talent.

It appears more top recruits don’t care about where they go to college anymore and are just biding their time until draft night. This may be most concerning to the NBA because it impacts the league directly.

“What’s really interesting to me is the last two No. 1 picks in the NBA draft, Ben Simmons two years ago and Markelle Fultz last year, both played with teams that did not make the NCAA tournament [LSU and Washington],” Silver said, “And I don’t think enough people are talking about that. That seems to be a sea change.”