NBA, Players Association Face Final Hurdles To End One-And-Done

The NBA and the Players Association seek to lower the age limit to 18 for athletes to have the option of skipping one year of college, two major hurdles stand in the way of an agreement, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver and NBPA executive director Michele Roberts are pushing for agents to provide medical information to teams regarding draft prospects, Wojnarowski relays. Also, the NBA wants players required to attend and participate, to varying degrees, in the pre-draft combine.

Withholding medical records has been one effective tool for agents and players to ensure which team drafts them. Requiring them to provide that information would alter those plans and give organizations more intel on prospective players and their health.

“Some organizations are run better than others,” one prominent agent told ESPN. “A lot of success comes from a player getting into the right situation at the right time. If I can do something that influences that, why would I give that up?”

If an agreement can be reached, high school seniors would be eligible to declare for the NBA Draft starting in 2022. The current ‘one-and-done’ rule came into effect as part of the 2005 Collective Bargaining Agreement, making the draft-eligible age 19, giving prospects the option of one year in college or playing overseas for one season.

Earlier this week, it was announced that the G League will offer an alternative to one-and-one. Starting in 2019, select contracts worth $125K will be offered to top prospects who are at least 18 years old but aren’t yet eligible for the NBA draft. The standard G-League salary is $35K.

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