There are plenty of reasons to distrust the NBA’s current youth movement. The pro game is not helped by teenagers who aren’t ready. The college game forfeits some appealing players. The players themselves sacrifice the college experience and its lifetime payoff. Impressionable youth get a flawed sense of success.
Yet none of that offers a compelling reason to set a minimum age — 19, 20, even 21 — to play in the NBA.
The best test of who should be allowed to play is, and always has been, the playing field. Whether it’s the basketball court, the baseball diamond or the PGA Tour, an individual’s athletic talents in competition will determine whether he or she belongs.
NBA players union chief Billy Hunter argues that the current requirement — graduation from high school — is working. An age test one year ago would have deprived the league of LeBron James and, perhaps, Carmelo Anthony. Ask the Cleveland Cavaliers’ owners and fans whether that would have been a good move.
The NBA’s Web site last week listed 10 high schoolers who think they are ready to make the leap to the pros in this week’s draft. Six more are college freshmen, five are sophomores. Not all will become stars, but neither will all graduating college seniors find success.
There are many reasons, starting with an average salary of $3.7 million, why players want to jump from high school to the NBA, or leave college early. It’s not so different than forgoing college to play in a rock band, or dropping out to form Microsoft.
The NBA’s high school graduation requirement ensures that any career pursuit comes only after a life’s basic educational foundation has been established. The NBA and its teams should use their best resources in drafting and preparing players to improve the brand image around the world. Beyond that, it is impossible for the NBA to protect or prevent kids from failure. Trying to do so by imposing an age restriction would not serve the players, the fans or the league itself.
