The NBA is set to make a major change to the league’s draft rules.
The Players Association and the NBA have joint options on December 15 to terminate the current Collective Bargaining Agreement. According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the two sides See you this week to discuss some of the changes they would like to make to the CBA.
The players have a list of changes they want to make, including creating a “mental health” designation for players placed on the injury list.
There is another change that may take effect.
The parties are expected to lower the minimum age for players to qualify for the NBA Draft from 19 to 18. The rule setting the qualifying age to 19 went into effect in 2005. While that helps avoid the problem of having too many young players. who weren’t ready to join the league and lost the ability to go to college, it had a number of other consequences. First, it hurts the college basketball product because it leads to a wave of do-one-and-do players. Second, it prevents some high school students preparing for the NBA from getting straight into the NBA.
New rule could go into effect for NBA Draft 2024.
