9:05 am: Three of the 12 schools Tipton identified as being in pursuit of Flowers have denied that’s the case, according to Matt Norlander of CBS Sports (Twitter link).
“Not even sure how we got on that list,” one program official told Norlander. “No one on our staff has had any contact with anyone associated with him.”
8:12 am: Second-year wing Trentyn Flowers, who is on a two-way contract with the Bulls, is receiving interest from several different power five colleges, including Kentucky, Michigan, Kansas and Florida, reports Joe Tipton of On3.com (subscription required).
Flowers was viewed as a top-25 college recruit out of high school in 2023, Tipton notes, but the 20-year-old ultimately decided to play professionally in Australia after originally committing to Louisville. He went undrafted in 2024 after one season with the Adelaide 36ers of the National Basketball League.
As Tipton writes, players who have NBA experience technically haven’t been granted NCAA eligibility to this point, but that hasn’t stopped college programs from pursuing them. Jazian Gortman, who is currently playing in the G League with the Oklahoma City Blue but spent part of last season on a two-way deal with the Mavericks, represents another recent example of this trend.
Flowers isn’t the only active two-way player receiving interest from colleges, according to Tipton, though he doesn’t specifically identify any others.
Tipton points out that universities have been emboldened to pursue professional players after the NCAA has shown leniency about granting them eligibility. For instance, Knicks prospect James Nnaji enrolled at Baylor a few days ago two years after being selected 31st overall in the 2023 draft. The Nigerian big man, who played professionally in Spain and Turkey, was granted four years of college eligibility.
Did anyone see this coming? I’ve seen people get up in arms about “real” college students getting leapfrogged. I don’t see the problem – college sports are not about education, but even if a guy actually wants an education, who cares how old they are. It sure seems to have popped up out of nowhere though
Exactly. What even is a “real” college student?
To me playing real mins against top competition. Is key to growing your game. Along with good coaching and conditioning. I guess doing it this way. Going back to college. Gives your game more attention. Or helps you push your brand. Whatever works for you I guess. I still believe in the pro system. So maybe this says. The NBA has to fix their G-league developmental system.
The difference with Nnaji getting declared eligible by the NCAA is that Flowers has played in the NBA and as the article states, is currently on a 2-way deal with the Bulls while Nnaji has never played in the NBA.
Considering that Nnaji did make money playing in Europe, it makes sense that colleges are going to see if they can get eligibility from the NCAA for Flowers (for the 1st time ever) now.
This is a result of the one-and-done system. Kids don’t really learn the fundamentals and a position. Kids get paid millions before they really know what they are doing. They treat the GLeague like a showcase.
I agree definitely has something to do with it.
No idea what the NCAA rules for being an amateur are at this point
Go to overseas and make money, it ain’t that hard
It’s just so bad for high schoolers who want to be playing at a high level of college basketball one day. There’s so many colleges who have at least half their roster spots filled by guys who played professionally already in different countries around the world. They’re taking roster spots from top recruits, on top of college coaches like pitino saying he’s more interested in the transfer portal than recruiting hs players. Some of the better hs kids are won’t even end up d1 or maybe not even d2. Just because there’s not enough roster spots .
In my opinion, if you have played on the senior team in any league in Europe, you shouldn’t have college eligibility, so no James Nnaji, no elias rapieque who plays for Kansas state. There’s a guy in the big 12 who’s 23 years old and is deemed a sophomore even though he’s been playing professionally already for years
If you play “professionally” you shouldn’t ever get ncaa eligibility and I think the term professional should apply to every European teams senior team, g league, nba, cba, nbl, etc.
Horrible
I find it kind of funny people are complaining about this. NBA players have played in the Olympics since 92. The Olympics was intended for amateur players. It is to late to go back now.
Don’t know he will get accepted due to having played NBA minutes unlike that James kid at Baylor.
However makes complete sense for people to be looking into it. Go back to school and get an eduction for post basketball life. Due to being older and bigger you’ll likely put up really good college numbers.
Which not only makes college life more enjoyable but probably opens up more NBA doors for you to explore afterwards.
Older players didn’t have this privilege. Get rid of it. Get a degree in the 1st place when everything is handed to you
This should be illegal