With the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement set to expire at the end of this season there have been reports that in the new CBA incoming players will have to attend two years of college and be 20 years old by the end of the calendar year. Now the player’s union was against the first change that required American basketball players to be out of high school for at least one year and 19 years old by the end of the calendar year. So I guess it safe to assume that the owners again are for this change. I am against forcing them to stay two years for much of the same reasons I was against forcing them to play one year.
One of the reasons I’m against it is because I don’t think that it is fair to deny players the opportunity to make legitimate money because of his age. College is not for everyone and forcing someone to go to college can’t lead to many good things. I’m convinced that Kevin Durant played one year at Texas because he was forced to. Yes he was exciting to watch, but I’m not sure if that year in college benefited him. Why would you want to force such talent as Durant to stay another year? It’s probably great for the fans, but it’s not fair to the player. Most people want to get paid for their talents as soon as possible, so why deny these players the same opportunities?
Another reason I’m against it is because I think that it sets a lot of these schools up for NCAA violations. If these kids are coming into college knowing that they are not going to be there for the long run what keeps them from violating NCAA rules? What keeps them for taking that Escalade or that new LCD flat screen? What keeps them from taking money and trips from agents? What reason would they have to not let a person take exams for them? They have no real incentive to abide by these rules because they don’t plan on staying. All it does is set up the school to be sanctioned. Take USC for example, they have to deal with sanctions because of violations with O.J. Mayo. I’m convinced that Mayo would have declared for the NBA right after high school instead of going to USC if he had that option. Instead he was forced to college and USC is suffering the consequences. In the long run these age restrictions will have a negative impact on the school that these young men are playing for.
Now I’m not devaluing a college education or the college experience. I’m just saying that college is not for everyone. No one should be forced to go to college. It shouldn’t matter if it is an athlete or not. Instead of giving a NBA ready player the opportunity to make millions, you force them to go to college and make their perspective schools millions. If a player wants to enter the NBA draft after high school they should be allowed to do just that. Either you can play in the NBA or you can’t….age has nothing to do with it.