NCAA announces major changes to eligibility requirements

The NCAA announced massive changes Wednesday to eligibility requirements for college basketball players who wish to declare for the NBA draft.

Most notably, student-athletes who enter the draft and aren't selected will now be able to enroll in or return to school as long as they notify their university athletic director by the Monday following the draft. This change is subject to approval by the NBPA and NBA, which has previously expressed a desire to eliminate the one-and-done rule.

One caveat to the rule change is that if a player returns to school in that scenario, they would be ineligible to play in the NBA until the end of the next college basketball season.

After the changes were announced, NBA spokesman Tim Frank said the league will "review the NCAA's planned reforms and continue to assess, along with our players' association, the potential for any related NBA rules changes," per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

In another major reversal, NCAA players can now be represented by agents without losing eligibility. The agents must be certified by an NCAA program, unless they're family members. Certified agents can also represent high school recruits, provided they've been identified as an "elite senior prospect" by USA Basketball.

However, the NCAA may designate who's considered an elite prospect, with USAB running the camp, according to ESPN's Jonathan Givony.

Players in the "elite" category would likely choose to enter the NBA draft pending the end of the one-and-done policy, although the rule change would give them the flexibility of NCAA eligibility if they so choose.

Under the revisions to the Uniform Athlete Agents Act, agents will also be permitted to pay expenses such as meals and transportation if related to the agent selection process.