Commissioner: Age for draft eligibility likely will change

LAS VEGAS — NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is certain that changes are coming to the league. Some are easy. Others, not so much.

Speaking after the NBA’s Board of Governors meeting late Tuesday, Silver said he thinks the league is ready to scrap the rule requiring players to be out of high school for a year before becoming eligible to enter the draft. That one should be relatively simple to move forward now, while notions such as how to find more competitive balance are still a puzzler to the league and its commissioner.

“I love where the league is right now,” Silver said. “But I think we can create a better system.” Part of that better system, he thinks, will be reverting back to a policy that allows players to go into the league right out of high school — something that should be in place in time for the 2021 NBA draft, though that timeline has not been formally announced.

“My personal view is that we’re ready to make that change,” Silver said. “It won’t come immediately. But when I’ve weighed the pros and cons, given that Condoleezza Rice and her commission have recommended to the NBA that those one-and-done players now come directly into the league and in essence the college community is saying ‘We do not want those players anymore,’ I think that tips the scale in my mind.”

Michele Roberts, the National Basketball Players Association’s newly reelected executive director, has had talks with Silver on the topic. Any change to the rule will require the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement to be amended. “Stay tuned,” Roberts said. “I suspect that we’ll have some news in the next few months.”

That switch should be painless. So, too, will be a relatively minor tweak to free agency rules, that being a likely change to what has been the traditional 12:01 a.m. EDT start time on July 1. Silver said he’s no fan of the all-night news cycle that has accompanied the official start of free agency, and without divulging what will happen he made clear that it’ll be different for 2019.

But creating parity, that one isn’t going to be simple. Golden State has won three of the last four NBA titles and this summer saw the Warriors land DeMarcus Cousins for $5.3 million — a pittance by NBA standards for an All-Star. LeBron James left Cleveland for the Lakers, which will likely make the loaded Western Conference even more competitive. Making the playoffs out West will probably be much tougher than in the East.

Among other matters Silver addressed: Governors were briefed on ongoing talks the league is having with the gaming industry, with sports betting now able to be offered by each state following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in May; Silver called it “embarrassing” that the league currently has only one female referee, and said he’s hopeful that will be changed before long; and the investigation into allegations of workplace misconduct against the Dallas Mavericks should be completed by the end of July, Silver said.