The feeling around the NBA is that if the league and the NBPA "agree to restore the minimum entry point for Draftees to high school, there will be a much greater influx of teenagers coming into the league than there were the last time high school grads were allowed to enter the Draft," according to David Aldridge of NBA.com. Combined with the "explosion in player salaries," there is "no way that fewer, rather than more, high schoolers will come into the league the second they're able to." The NBA "has to be ready for what that will mean." The first 10 college players picked in last week's Draft were all freshman. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has talked about wanting to alter the current rule stating players must be one year removed from high school (NBA.com, 6/26).
COLLEGE SHOULDN'T BE REQUIRED: In South Carolina, David Wetzel wrote players would "further be fleeced if the age limit is changed" to 20 years old or two years out of high school. If a player "believes he is ready to go to the NBA" straight out of high school, he "should be allowed to go." The "fear of allowing players to go straight from high school to the NBA has to be that the college game will be watered down." Therefore, "in theory, college TV ratings -- and advertisements -- would suffer if the one-and-done changes to none." If it "changes to two-and-done," like NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is an "advocate for, the opposite would likely happen -- college basketball would become more popular than ever." There is a "trend that is slowly creeping into the game ... that could make the age requirement meaningless if further enacted." Thunder first-round pick Terrance Ferguson turned down college offers to play professionally last season in Australia. Wetzel: "If the path to the NBA becomes a two-and-done format, I wouldn't be surprised if more players start to consider the path less traveled" (Myrtle Beach SUN NEWS, 6/26).
