Silver: NBA 'conflicted' about changing one-and-done rule
NBA commissioner Adam Silver wouldn't divulge much about widely rumored changes to the one-and-done draft system Saturday, kicking the can down the road until the NCAA makes public some expected recommendations.
"There's a lot going on," Silver said during his All-Star weekend media availability. "There's a commission that (NCAA president) Mark Emmert and the NCAA appointed, led by (former Secretary of State) Condoleeza Rice ... (that) is taking an overall look at the issue. They're looking to use some recommendations in the spring."
Silver previously said the NBA was "rethinking" its position on the one-and-done rule, which was introduced in 2006 and stipulates players must be 19 years old or one year removed from their high school graduation to be draft-eligible. The rule ended an era that saw the likes of LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, and Kobe Bryant go straight from high school to the NBA.
The National Basketball Players Association is against the rule and has been pushing the league to go back to a minimum draft age of 18.
Silver said Saturday the league is torn.
"We're conflicted, to be honest," he said. "From a league standpoint, on one hand, we think we have a better draft when we've had an opportunity to see these young players play at an elite level before they come into the NBA.
"On the other hand, I think the question for the league is, in terms of their ultimate success, are we better off intersecting with them a little bit younger, are we better off bringing them into the league when they're 18, using our G League as it was designed to be, as a development league."
Part of the issue the NBA has had with the existing draft system is the NCAA's strict eligibility requirements. One of the many suggestions to amend the current impasse is having college basketball adopt a similar system that exists in NCAA baseball. In that system, young players are eligible for the draft upon graduating high school. But if they don't declare at that point and go to college, they're not eligible until after their third or fourth year.
Another idea gaining steam is simply making the G League a true minor-league system, which would effectively end the NCAA as a talent pipeline to the NBA. The powerful collegiate sporting concern, however, is already under the microscope of a widespread federal investigation, and many feel it will never be the same once findings are publicly released.