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Less than a decade after 18-year-old Kobe Bryant got drafted into the NBA in 1996, the league made all players spend at least one year in college or playing overseas\u00a0before they could enter the professional basketball league<\/a>.<\/p>\n That rule may be about to be rescinded, paving the way for today\u2019s star high school players to follow in Kobe\u2019s footsteps. I have seen both professional and college athletics up close, first working for the Philadelphia 76ers in the mid-1980s, then as a sportswriter, and now as a\u00a0professor of sports media<\/a>\u00a0and the director of Ohio State\u2019s\u00a0Sports and Society Initiative<\/a>. Each summer I teach a course to help prepare freshmen for the demands of college, so I see both opportunities and challenges associated with the NBA\u2019s\u00a0collegiate attendance requirement<\/a>.<\/p>\n When the National Basketball Association first formed in 1946, it didn\u2019t let anyone join a team until\u00a0four years<\/a>\u00a0after their high school class graduated. That restriction lasted until a player named Spencer Hayward sued the NBA in 1971.<\/p>\n Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court\u00a0struck down the rule<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a01971<\/a>. The league soon welcomed\u00a0Moses Malone<\/a>\u00a0in 1974. Malone proved the poster child for skipping college and heading to the pros as he led the Houston Rockets and then the Philadelphia 76ers to NBA titles. He ultimately earned a spot as one of the\u00a0top 50<\/a>\u00a0basketball players of all time.<\/p>\n The league also welcomed high schoolers\u00a0Darryl Dawkins<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Bill Willoughby<\/a>, star players whose lack of maturity on and off the court indicated they may have benefited from a bit more development before their pro careers.<\/p>\n Eventually the league was home to such 18-year-old NBA rookies as\u00a0Kevin Garnett<\/a>, in 1995,\u00a0Tracy McGrady<\/a>, in 1996,\u00a0Amar’e Stoudemire<\/a>, in 2002,\u00a0LeBron James<\/a>, in 2003,\u00a0Dwight Howard<\/a>, in 2004 and\u00a0Andrew Bynum<\/a>, in 2005.<\/p>\n In 2005,\u00a0Amir Johnson<\/a>, of Westchester High School in California, became the\u00a040th player<\/a>\u00a0to get drafted into the NBA without playing in college.<\/p>\n Then-NBA-Commissioner David Stern successfully lobbied for a stipulation in the league\u2019s 1995 collective bargaining agreement, known as\u00a0Article X<\/a>. It limited draft eligibility to players who were at least 19 years old and stated that an NBA season had to elapse following their graduation from high school.<\/p>\n The new rule was intended to give all players a chance to experience college basketball. The league, according to this line of thinking, would become more professional and feature higher-quality performances by players who were more physically mature and had built up a fan based during\u00a0collegiate play<\/a>\u00a0This change, the NBA hoped, would also cut down on the scouting that it was then doing in high school and even middle school gyms.<\/p>\n Aspects of the rule worked.<\/p>\n There is no doubt some players who may have been compelled to make the leap instead gained much-needed experience \u2013 and education \u2013 in college that enabled them to handle the physical and emotional demands of professional sports. As collegiate student-athletes, players take classes, which can give them career options later.<\/p>\n But it also led to many \u201cone-and-done<\/a>\u201d players \u2013 that is, players who spend one year in college and then seek to get drafted into the NBA. Examples include Ben Simmons, who left Louisiana State to join the Philadelphia 76ers, D’Angelo Russell, who left Ohio State to play with the LA Lakers, Andrew Wiggins, who went from the University of Kansas to the Cleveland Cavaliers and Jabari Parker, who departed Duke for the Milwaukee Bucks.<\/p>\n This arrangement enabled universities to capitalize on these incredible athletes, who developed a strong and loyal collegiate fan base before going pro. That fan base buys jerseys and clamors for television access to those stars, resulting in\u00a0significant revenue<\/a>. College teams aiming for single-season success have been built around one-and-done players.<\/p>\n They can even win championships<\/a>, as was proven by Kentucky and Duke, who\u00a0each had three one-and-done players <\/a>\u00a0when they won championships 2012 and 2015, respectively.<\/p>\n The NBA in February 2019\u00a0proposed lowering the minimum age<\/a>\u00a0for playing professional basketball from 19 to 18. The\u00a0change could come soon<\/a>.<\/p>\n The rationale is that the difference between 18 and 19 is not significant enough to curtail career potential. Injuries are an all-too-real possibility for top collegiate players who put their bodies \u2013 and potential livelihoods \u2013 on the line while gaining\u00a0no financial security<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the NBA\u2019s\u00a0G League<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 an official minor league \u2013 is also offering US$125,000 contracts, plus health care and employment benefits, to prospects who are at least 18. By way of comparison, the\u00a0vast majority<\/a>\u00a0of NBA players command salaries of at least $1 million or more.<\/p>\n The change seems to satisfy opponents of the NBA rule that requires NBA draftees to be 19 and a year out of high school. Critics of the rule include Haywood, who has decried the rule as \u201cvery racist<\/a>.\u201d Haywood also said the rule has a \u201ctinge of slavery<\/a>\u201d because it forces talented college Division I basketball players to play for free in college while at the same time generating wealth for college sports. Although\u00a0blacks represent only about 13%<\/a>\u00a0of the U.S. population, black Division I basketball players outnumber their white counterparts by a ratio of\u00a0more than 2 to 1<\/a>.<\/p>\n Less obvious, however, is the impact of allowing players to forgo education when their professional reality does not match their dream. Not everyone who makes the NBA will win a championship. Some may not even play a game. There is a benefit to the education afforded student-athletes, whether it is appreciated at the time or not.<\/p>\n One of the clearest examples of how education can be significant to the development of a student not as an athlete but as person can be seen in\u00a0Greg Oden<\/a>, whose place in history is both cautionary tale and an inspiration.<\/p>\n In 2005, Oden was a 7-foot star weighing a stopover in college or a leap straight to the pros. The NBA made the decision for him in his senior year of high school when it enacted the rule that makes players spend at least a year in college. He enrolled at Ohio State University for a spectacular freshman season that helped lead the Buckeyes to the Final Four \u2013 the last two games to decide who will go on to play for the National Collegiate Athletic Association\u2019s Divison I championship.<\/p>\n Oden was drafted No. 1 in 2007 by Portland Trail Blazers. But Oden\u2019s future was filled with surgeries, not championships; knee braces, not rings. The Blazers let him go in 2012.<\/p>\n To find his future, he came to his past, back to Ohio State. The university promises all former student-athletes the\u00a0opportunity to return<\/a>\u00a0to finish their degree when they are ready.<\/p>\n Oden\u00a0graduated from the university<\/a>\u00a0with a\u00a0bachelor\u2019s degree in sport industry<\/a>\u00a0in 2019.<\/p>\nThe early days<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Rules change<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Top players may soon skip college altogether<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Education as a fallback<\/strong><\/h4>\n