I thought NBA already had G-league for that. This will actually make G-league pretty much redundant and I don’t think Adam Silver will be happy with that.

This seems like a process and a unique case to me since be was drafted and never used any NCAA eligibility and never signed an NBA contract

If anything, it may open the NBA to look at how long teams can retain the right to those drafted players.

In the MLB, if the drafted player returns to college, the MLB team loses the rights.

In the NHL, if the drafted player returns to college, the NHL team retains their rights until August 15 following the player’s senior year (or until the player leaves college).

In the NFL, if the drafted player is not signed by the time the next draft begins, the team loses his rights. At that point, the player can re-enter the NFL Draft and be drafted by any team.

In the NBA, the drafting team holds the player’s exclusive NBA rights until one year after the draft. I believe, If the team does not sign the player within that year, the player re-enters the NBA Draft. However, if the drafted player is drafted from outside the U.S., the team holds their rights indefinitely. So this draft and stash in the NCAA only applies to international players and is probably an issue the player association would want fixed to get their international players a time limitation on draft rights.

Did he not play professionally for Barcelona or was he only a member of their youth setups?

This happens in the NHL right now actually, it might be better for the game overall if we let kids do this!

Celtics already did that back in the 80s with Larry Bird.

Does New York still retain the right to sign him to his first contract?

I see what you’re saying, but I don’t think it makes sense. The arrangement has zero upside for the player. If getting drafted doesn’t guarantee a contract but makes you ineligible to play for 29 teams without a trade of your rights, then it’s all downside for the player. Stashing guys in college would just cause guys to declare for the draft later for fear they will be stashed and have their path to the NBA via free agency thwarted.

Maybe I’m not educated enough on the subject but if it works for the NHL then why can’t it also work for the NBA?

Didn’t the Celtics do this with Bird? What changed I thought this could always be done

Yes, but in the NHL NCAA players become free agents if they haven’t signed by the time they’re done with college

Chris Kreider did this to join NYR in the playoffs with zero pro experience in like 2012

Babe wake up, new OKC permadynasty strategy just dropped

This also opens up a huge opportunity for second round prospects to get drafted but complete a degree in case it doesn’t work out.

This is potentially huge. If a guy who got drafted but hasn’t played in the NBA yet can play in college, this opens up the floodgates to potentially being able to stash your drafted players in college until they’re ready.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

Sam presti salivating rn

This year saw like 3-4 players with pro hockey experience return to college even. The lines are going to keep getting blurrier.

NCAA approved a g-league player to play in college back in September

Nnaji is the first NBA draft pick to be approved to play in college. It’s really interesting to me because the Knicks have Nnaji’s draft rights.

NIL really shook up how the NCAA is allowed to determine “amateurism”. They’re trying really hard to avoid more lawsuits now so who knows what they’ll allow next.

This has been the rule in hockey for decades and it has worked seamlessly. The idea that you couldn’t play after being drafted in the NBA (and NFL) is weird and pointless and stupid.

Both the leagues and the NCAA and especially the players would all benefit greatly if you could be drafted and then sent back to college if you’re not ready for the league.

Imagine if the Warriors could have sent Kuminga to college rather than having him sitting at Golden State. There are a ton of draft busts that would have panned out if they hadn’t been rushed into a terrible situation. And the players get to receive a full education and potentially grad school.

It would also do wonders with 2nd round picks, and give the league a reason to expand the draft.

magic johnson threatened to do it as a negotiation tactic in that movie

I thought once they declare for nba draft, they cant go back to college for ncaa tournaments

There’s a few guys who played professional AHL games playing ncaa hockey under the new rules somehow.

The ncaa has lost so many lawsuits that at this point they just say yes to 90% of the players’ requests to avoid the losing lawsuit if they say no.

I mean with NIL they aren’t really amateurs anymore so why not?

46 year old LeBron coming off the bench for OSU to bully 18 year olds

James Nnaji has never signed an NBA contract. I think you’ll find that’s the hard cutoff.

no he doesn’t. he signed a professional contract.

however if he were to return to college and play football (anything other than basketball) it’s fine. but not basketball

There is nothing stopping LeBron from being a 42 year old College Football player

I doubt the NCAA will let him. They didn’t let JR smith have eligibility for D1 basketball when he went back to NC A&T to get his degree and he never played college basketball before. I think it had to do with his age and pro status/accolades because they did let him play D1 golf.

LeBron could play U-Sport, which is the D1 equivalent in Canada. Playing pro doesn’t hurt your eligibility, it happens a lot with hockey players who play some level of pro hockey from 18-22 and if they aren’t making the NHL they go to university. Former NHL player Mike Denton played for Saint Mary’s in Halifax a few years back after he got out of jail. Funnily enough LeBron couldn’t play CCAA which is the DII equivalent in Canada as they have eligibility rules preventing anyone who played pro or semi pro. There’s been a couple instances of teams having players with pro experience getting on rosters and then having to forfeit the game won with that player.

LeBachelor’s

It’s never too late to go back to school!

I’m glad he found another avenue to success. But that is a hilarious sequence of events. 

He’s gonna be crazy in high school ball next year 

Grown men playing in college against 19 and 20 year olds, you’re right

Potential . He was a Eurostash. Expected to develop in Europe for ²⁄₃ years and come over . But he opted to go to college

> tfw no foreign language credit

Greg Gard needs to give Johnny Davis and Sam Dekker a call. They’ve got remaining eligibility

Surely though any guy who is getting stashed in college isn’t really getting good money in college for him to prefer it. Like the guys who get serious NIL money are the top picks who want to get to the NBA quickly or the guys who are really good for the college game who are like 2nd round picks at best

The player can go to camp on a non-guaranteed contract if they are drafted. If the team doesn’t sign them they are a free agent.

Not until they declare for the draft or turn 22 years old in the calendar year of the draft.

Yeah but they literally changed the rules after Bird so the 1st time since the 70s is pretty new and notable.

Yeah but baseball you don’t retain the rights

It makes way more sense in baseball because 1) the team doesn’t keep your rights if you do so you can bargain with for a better signing bonus and 2) unless you’re a generational talent you’re not playing in the majors for a few years at least, so you might choose to develop in a way more cushy environment with girls and booze over say Fort Wayne, Indiana.

To get an education?

The same as always, just with the mask off. NCAA teams just are minor league teams which are affiliated with a college.

If you can’t make it in the nba then just take whatever remaining college eligibility you have then go overseas if you can.

He wasn’t even close to making the team based on summer league play.

He is massive and athletic though, so he might push college kids around.

He played pro overseas but it was clear in summer league that he’s still raw and needs work.

In the second round, teams only have to offer a non-guaranteed contract. He thought he had better offers.

Why even bother to hide behind the veil of amateurism

They have stopped. That is why the NCAA understands that there are very few restrictions that are enforceable anymore.

Does NIL only apply to football?

He literally was a professional player in spain

He played summer league tho, pretty funny