NBA Eligibility likely reduced from 19 to 18 for 2024 draft

[Celtics2021]

Just came across this tidbit in an Athletic article by Shams:

The league and NBPA are expected to agree on moving the age eligibility for the NBA Draft from 19 year old to 18, clearing the way for the return of high school players who want to make the leap to the NBA, per sources with knowledge of the discussions.

The NBA set the draft age limit at 19 years old in 2005.  Silver said in July that he was "hopeful" for the rule changing in the next CBA cycle, and both sides appear motivated to reduce the age eligibility for the draft.

The reduced age limit for high school-to-NBA jumps would go into effect as early as the 2024 NBA Draft.

[Roy H.]

Does this eliminate the "one year after graduation of your high school class" rule, as well?

[Celtics2021]

Does this eliminate the "one year after graduation of your high school class" rule, as well?

It’s not written in ink, but presumably that is the intent.  Players will presumably need to be finished with high school, but not a full year removed.

[Donoghus]

Somewhere Calipari is screaming right now.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Dang. There are good aspects of guys being able to go to the NBA straight from high school, but I wonder what's going to happen to the big-time college programs such as Kentucky. I mean, it's tough enough having your best guys be one-and-dones, but now there will be more guys who'll skip college entirely. Gonna be tough to convince guys to come play for just one year.

[Moranis]

Dang. There are good aspects of guys being able to go to the NBA straight from high school, but I wonder what's going to happen to the big-time college programs such as Kentucky. I mean, it's tough enough having your best guys be one-and-dones, but now there will be more guys who'll skip college entirely. Gonna be tough to convince guys to come play for just one year.

Sure they won't get the 1 and done, but it might have more guys stay longer than a year.

[celticsclay]

I would prefer they just keep it as is. Think it leads to a better product for the nba and college. Sure there were the superstars like howard and kobe and Lebron, but also the Robert swift, Sebastian telfair, Gerald greens and desagna diops who all probably would have benefitted from some college.

[Celtics2021]

I would prefer they just keep it as is. Think it leads to a better product for the nba and college. Sure there were the superstars like howard and kobe and Lebron, but also the Robert swift, Sebastian telfair, Gerald greens and desagna diops who all probably would have benefitted from some college.

I think if they improve the G League it could work well.  Some sort of MLB-style service time rules, such that a team can keep a draftee in the G-league for a year without accruing service time, but the player still gets that 1st round money after that G-league stint.  In other words, you draft a guy, sign him to a contract, but the contract has a clause that essentially lets the team defer it for a year while the player is in the G league, where maybe he gets a salary that's a little more substantial than the G-League's $25k or what have you.  The following year the contract takes effect, virtually no exceptions outside of league suspension, adjusted upwards for increases in the cap.  The team has to decide before the start of the regular season the year the player is drafted.  Teams can play the draftees who are ready and develop the ones who aren't, but the kids still ultimately get their contract too.

I don't imagine that's what's going to happen, but something along these lines is not impossible, as the NBA has been putting more resources into the G League recently, with the G League Ignite being the biggest example.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Dang. There are good aspects of guys being able to go to the NBA straight from high school, but I wonder what's going to happen to the big-time college programs such as Kentucky. I mean, it's tough enough having your best guys be one-and-dones, but now there will be more guys who'll skip college entirely. Gonna be tough to convince guys to come play for just one year.

Sure they won't get the 1 and done, but it might have more guys stay longer than a year.

I guess I'm thinking that they'll get less-talented players for more than a year—I'm figuring that most (if not all) top prospects will skip college—bringing down the overall talent level in college basketball.

[nickagneta]

That 2024 draft could be loaded. You will have the 1 and done guys coming out, regular non-freshmen, plus the best of the best high schoolers that would normally go to college for at least one year. I hope Brad keeps that 2024 pick.

[Celtics2021]

That 2024 draft could be loaded. You will have the 1 and done guys coming out, regular non-freshmen, plus the best of the best high schoolers that would normally go to college for at least one year. I hope Brad keeps that 2024 pick.

It might not be as loaded as you think.  I follow college recruiting pretty closely, and I’ve seen some analysts say the current high school senior class, who would be freshmen next year, is the weakest in several years.  Players in the 5-10 range would be 10-20 most years, and so on.  So a double draft might bring 2024 from below average to above average, but it probably won’t be loaded.

[bdm860]

It's not like this hasn't happened before.  You would think the flood gates would have really been open in 2001 when 3 of the first 4 picks were high school kids.  But you still had guys like Carmelo, Chris Bosh, Chris Paul, going to college.

Even with the change in eligibility requiring one year out of high school, you still have a long list of top guys staying in college more than a year: LaMarcus Aldridge, Brandon Roy, Rudy Gay, Al Horford, Joakim Noah, Russell Westbrook, Blake Griffin, James Harden, Steph Curry, Gordon Hayward, Paul George, Kemba Walker, Klay Thompson, Kawhi Leonard, Damian Lillard, Victor Oladipo, Marcus Smart, Buddy Hield, Domantas Sabonis, Donovan Mitchell, Ja Morant, Tyrese Haliburton.

So don't think it's going to be the deathblow to college hoops some think it will be.


It will be interesting to see if drafting has changed/evolved at all with the style of the league changing.  99% of the high school players that were drafted into the NBA were 6'5" or taller.  Telfair is the only guy shorter than 6'5" drafted in the first round (Monta Ellis and Lou Williams also shorter than 6'5" but drafted in the 2nd round).  Wonder if this will change significantly at all.

[nickagneta]

That 2024 draft could be loaded. You will have the 1 and done guys coming out, regular non-freshmen, plus the best of the best high schoolers that would normally go to college for at least one year. I hope Brad keeps that 2024 pick.

It might not be as loaded as you think.  I follow college recruiting pretty closely, and I’ve seen some analysts say the current high school senior class, who would be freshmen next year, is the weakest in several years.  Players in the 5-10 range would be 10-20 most years, and so on.  So a double draft might bring 2024 from below average to above average, but it probably won’t be loaded.

I've seen good drafts be labeled as worse in a decade before and seen bad drafts labeled as great/deep before hand. Brad will need to rely on his scouts to determine if holding on to that pick could lead to someone good falling. The one thing for sure is that their will definitely be more bodies. We will see how good that draft ends up being.

[Celtics2021]

That 2024 draft could be loaded. You will have the 1 and done guys coming out, regular non-freshmen, plus the best of the best high schoolers that would normally go to college for at least one year. I hope Brad keeps that 2024 pick.

It might not be as loaded as you think.  I follow college recruiting pretty closely, and I’ve seen some analysts say the current high school senior class, who would be freshmen next year, is the weakest in several years.  Players in the 5-10 range would be 10-20 most years, and so on.  So a double draft might bring 2024 from below average to above average, but it probably won’t be loaded.

I've seen good drafts be labeled as worse in a decade before and seen bad drafts labeled as great/deep before hand. Brad will need to rely on his scouts to determine if holding on to that pick could lead to someone good falling. The one thing for sure is that their will definitely be more bodies. We will see how good that draft ends up being.

For sure the future is unwritten, and a draft's depth isn't solely due to a single high school class, with both college upper classmen and international players contributing to the depth.  Just saying that having high schoolers will probably cancel out the potentially poor freshman class, as opposed to add to something already special, meaning it might not be a draft for the ages.

But it's good for Bronny!

[Moranis]

That 2024 draft could be loaded. You will have the 1 and done guys coming out, regular non-freshmen, plus the best of the best high schoolers that would normally go to college for at least one year. I hope Brad keeps that 2024 pick.

It might not be as loaded as you think.  I follow college recruiting pretty closely, and I’ve seen some analysts say the current high school senior class, who would be freshmen next year, is the weakest in several years.  Players in the 5-10 range would be 10-20 most years, and so on.  So a double draft might bring 2024 from below average to above average, but it probably won’t be loaded.

I've seen good drafts be labeled as worse in a decade before and seen bad drafts labeled as great/deep before hand. Brad will need to rely on his scouts to determine if holding on to that pick could lead to someone good falling. The one thing for sure is that their will definitely be more bodies. We will see how good that draft ends up being.

For sure the future is unwritten, and a draft's depth isn't solely due to a single high school class, with both college upper classmen and international players contributing to the depth.  Just saying that having high schoolers will probably cancel out the potentially poor freshman class, as opposed to add to something already special, meaning it might not be a draft for the ages.

But it's good for Bronny!

It might actually be bad for Bronny because he is far from a surefire 1st round talent.  He could probably use a year or two of college.