Texas' Mo Bamba is one of the more higher profile one-and-done players entering this year's DraftGETTY IMAGES
The NBA and NBPA's conversations on eliminating the one-and-done entry rule have "centered on lowering the minimum age requirement no sooner" than the '20 Draft, according to sources cited by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and NBPA Exec Dir Michele Roberts have "discussed scenarios to end the requirement for American players to wait one year after high school graduation to enter the NBA draft, but no formal agreement could be reached before the NBPA's executive committee, including president Chris Paul, gather for a meeting at the end of the NBA playoffs in June." Silver and Roberts have both "expressed a desire to change the rule, but it remains to be seen how the process of negotiating a rule change between the league and players will unfold." The Commission on College Basketball yesterday made a recommendation to "allow college players who declare for the NBA draft to retain their eligibility should they go unselected in the draft" (ESPN.com, 4/25). USA TODAY's Jeff Zillgitt cites a source as saying that there is "no guarantee a new rule goes into effect" in '20, only that it "won't happen" in '19. The issue "needs to be collectively bargained and agreed on" between the league and NBPA. But the NBA and NBPA "do not have to wait until the current CBA expires to negotiate a rule change" (USA TODAY, 4/26).
ALL ABOUT THE MONEY: In DC, Tim Bontemps writes the NBA's reason behind wanting to eliminate the one-and-done rule has "little to do with the commission's findings or the state of college basketball." It is because it "makes business sense." The G League has "grown to 26 teams, each tied to an NBA parent club." Next season, that number will "increase to 27." If the NBA has a "fully developed minor league, the best way to make money on it is to increase the talent pool." Bontemps: "The best way to do that? By having more talented collegiate players decide the G League is a better career path" (WASHINGTON POST, 4/26). ESPN's Brian Windhorst said the NBA will "find a way with the union to establish a new rule and I expect the NBA to fill the vacuum that college is leaving in the high school ranks." Windhorst: "The NBA is very powerful, they've been a backseat partner with college basketball for a long time. They're getting ready to move into the front seat" ("OTL," ESPN, 4/25).
WEIGHING THE BENEFITS: Potential Draft lottery pick C Mo Bamba on whether he would have gone straight to the NBA out of high school if it was allowed said, "I could have had a year of that NBA development and had a year head start at it, obviously I would love to have that opportunity if it was there for me." But he added, "I don't want to take away from anything at my time at Texas, I thought it was actually pretty darn special" ("The Jump," ESPN, 4/25).
