What MLB and the NFL Get Right that the NBA Doesn’t –

Going from being an amateur athlete to a professional can be an arduous process.  For a baseball player, you can get drafted out of high school, forgo college, and make your way up through MLB’s minor league system.  Or you can accept a college scholarship and wait until after your junior year to be draft eligible.  For a football player, the NFL mandates that any player eligible for the NFL Draft must be at least three-years removed from high school, no exceptions.  Lastly, for a basketball player, the NBA mandates that a player must be one-year removed from high school, no exceptions.  For MLB and the NFL, these mandates have been in place for years and have rarely been challenged.  But the NBA, the so-called “one-and-done” rule is a mandate that was just recently enacted, and has been challenged and argued on numerous occasions.    

The NBA’s Draft eligibility criteria is being called into question again after Kentucky freshman forward and potential #1 NBA draft pick, Nerlens Noel, suffered a season-ending knee injury when he torn his ACL in last week’s Kentucky v. Florida game.  There is much speculation that, after suffering this injury while in college, it could potentially hurt his draft stock / positioning, and thereby costing him millions of dollars; all because Noel had to go to college for one year before entering the NBA Draft.  So now the argument is being made:  if the NBA never instituted the “one-and-done” rule, Noel would have never been in college as he would have most likely entered and had been drafted into NBA the previous year, and therefore would now be financial secure if he had suffered this horrific injury in the NBA.    

Many people want to see the NBA’s “one-and-done” rule gone away with not only for financial reasons, but also because these high school basketball players are only going to college for one year because they have too, and then they immediately leave to enter the NBA Draft.  I respectfully disagree with eliminating the "one-and-done" rule.  If anything, I think the NBA needs to add another year or two onto it. 

Prior to the "one-and-done" rule, the NBA saw an influx of high school basketball players enter the NBA Draft when they were clearly not ready or skilled enough.  They were told false information regarding their basketball skills by inspiring sports agents trying to make a quick million off of these kids; agents who told them it’s a great idea to try to make the jump from high school basketball to the NBA, only to have these kids not get drafted and be left with no college scholarship and eligibility.  What does their future hold for them then?  They don’t get drafted into the NBA, they can’t go back and re-accept their scholarship they turned down to enter the NBA draft, and if they don’t have the GPA or test scores to get into college academically, where does that leave them?  Many use their athletic skills as a tool to get them on the path to college, which is fine and I agree with.  But the reality is that when the NBA didn’t have the “one-and-done” rule and high school players were draft eligible, a lot of them were coming from low-socioeconomic status, and when a sports agents gets in these kid’s ears, telling them how good they are and how many millions they will make in the NBA, it’s hard for these kids not to listen or say no.  And sometimes, you need to protect kids from themselves; and that is what I think the NBA is doing with the “one-and-done” rule.   

The most common comparison being made for the argument of doing away with the NBA’s “one-and-done” rule is that MLB allows players out of high school to be drafted, and it doesn't seem to be a problem for that sport.  Yes, high school baseball players are eligible and do get drafted out of high school, but they also spend many years in the minor league system before they ever see time in the professional ranks.  And what gets lost is the fact that if a high school player were to instead go to college to play baseball, they can’t become draft eligible until their junior year.  If the NBA can create a system or rule much like MLB has, making high school players eligible for the draft but if they choose to go to college they are required to stay for three years, I would support and be in favor of that system. 

Another common argument for allowing high schooler to enter the NBA Draft is one that I feel is trivial and jaded, and that is the argument of “right-to-work law” and the NBA impeding that right.  This is a bogus argument.  First, the NBA is not infringing on a high schoolers "right-to-work" rights.  The NBA through collective bargaining came to this age requirement agreement with the NBA's players union, so there is no rights or laws being impeded.  Secondly, this is how the real world works sometimes.  Sometimes, there are certain requirements that an individual has to meet before they can be employed at a job.  Whether it's obtaining a certain degree, or certification, or even age, that individual must meet those criteria.  Just because a high schooler may be physically ready for the NBA, doesn't mean he is qualified or ready to be in the NBA.  High schooers aren’t going straight into the medicine field or becoming doctors and scientist because they scored great on their SAT's or ACT's.  They go through many years of schooling to become skilled at their craft, and that is how I look at athletes going to college first before joining the pros.  There is a lot of development, both physical and maturing, that a kid refines while in college.   

Don't get me wrong, I feel terrible for Nerlens Noel and wouldn't wish this on him or his family, but you can't blame the NBA for what happened to him.  Like any business or association, it's their right to implement an age requirement to be allowed employment.  If you want to place the blame on anyone in this situation, blame the NCAA for not providing a stipend for their athletes who make the NCAA the multi-billion dollar industry it is.  I believe we can all agree that the current system of "one-and-done" is a complete mockery and that some change needs to occur.  For me, the solution is simple; either implement a rule much like MLB or extend the current NBA age requirement an additional one or two years, with the latter being the preferred choice.  I think these kids benefit more from staying in college longer, prolonging their education and physical development, and therefore making the NBA and NCAA games a better product.  The current systems in MLB and the NFL work, and the NBA's doesn't.  MLB and the NFL gets it right, the NBA doesn’t.   

Mr. Armchair Speaking –