NBA commissioner Adam Silver acknowledged that the 'one-and-done' rule isn't working and change may be coming soon
- NBA Commissioner Adam Silver acknowledged that the "one-and-done" rule that prohibits athletes from declaring for the NBA Draft straight out of high school is broken.
- In the 2017 NBA Draft, 20 of the players drafted and 11 players drafted in the lottery were college freshmen.
- Whatever policy replaces the "one-and-done" rule will have to be collectively bargained.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver admitted that the league's "one-and-done" rule that prohibits athletes from jumping straight from high school into the NBA, isn't working.
On Monday, Silver appeared on ESPN Radio's morning show "Golic and Wingo," and spoke on the matter.
"What I've said about the one-and-done rule is that it doesn't appear to be working for anyone," Silver told the hosts. "We're hearing from college coaches, college administrators, and the NCAA directly, and their view is, if these young men don't want to be in college longer than, in essence, one season, then they probably shouldn't be there."
"And from our standpoint, probably the most important issue is the development for the players before they come into the NBA. So now we're at the point where the colleges no longer want them, and the players seem a bit disillusioned with their semester-plus playing - I think it means we have to re-examine our policy."
Put in place after the league's 2005 labor agreement, the one-and-done rule said a player was not eligible for the NBA until one year after his high school class graduated. Silver had previously pushed for the rule to raise the mininum age even further, to 20. But as he noted in the interview, the rule isn't working as it stands, and raising the age would only make the problem worse.
As for a solution, there are plenty of ideas out there. The league and its players could come to an agreement to simply end the rule, allowing players to declare for the draft straight out of high school. Other options could involve an extension of the G-League that allows teams more flexibility with younger players, or the possibility of adopting something close to the academy system of soccer and basketball clubs in Europe.
During the 2017 NBA Draft, 20 players came into the NBA as one-and-done players, including 11 freshman taken in the lottery. If a third of the players entering the NBA are doing so after a single glorified semester of studies, there's a better way to prepare young athletes for what a career in basketball will be like.
You can watch a clip of the interview below.