Path to NBA no longer requires college season
R.J. Hampton sat on the set of ESPN’s “Get Up” a couple weeks ago and made a big announcement.
The point guard from Little Elm, just north of Dallas, was one of the country’s top recruits and planned to announce where he’d play in college next season live on air.
His top three schools were Kansas, Memphis and Texas Tech.
Hampton didn’t choose any of those. Instead, he opted to head to New Zealand. Rather than playing in the NCAA, he will start his professional career in Australia’s National Basketball League after signing with the New Zealand Breakers.
Since the NBA raised its age limit in 2005, a handful of players have skipped college, played overseas and found their way back to the NBA.
But in Hampton’s case, it was the first time a player made the choice without having potential eligibility issues as part of the decision.
About a week after Hampton’s announcement, Kenyon Martin Jr. made a similar decision. Ac
cording to a report from ESPN, rather than attend Vanderbilt, with whom he signed a letter of intent last month, Martin informed the Commodores staff that he planned on exploring professional options instead.
While the two highprofile players made headlines, it’s not likely this will become a trend. More often than not, top-level recruits are going to head to college rather than join the G League or play overseas.
For now, at least. In a few years, basketball hopefully can go back to the way it was before cream-of-the-crop players became one-and-dones.
It looks like the basketball world is trending toward making it easier for players who are ready to play professionally to do so.
In February, the NBA sent a proposal to the league’s Players Association to lower the minimum age for entering the draft from 19 to 18. NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he thinks the new rules will be in place in time for the 2022 draft.
In addition, the G League announced last fall that starting this year, it will employ a professional path program that offers $125,000 contracts to elite prospects.
It’s another way graduating high school recruits can skip college and start playing professionally. In 2016, the National Association of Basketball Coaches pushed back the deadline for players to withdraw from the NBA draft and return to college, giving them until the end of May to make that decision. Starting this year, college players even are allowed to hire agents to assist them in the draft process and still retain college eligibility as long as they withdraw from the draft by May 29.
It’s good for players to have options.
After the draft age changed, Brandon Jennings became the first high school player to opt out of his letter of intent, heading to Italy to play professionally instead of attending Arizona. He made it to the NBA in 2009 and has hopped in and out of the league since then. In 2014, Emmanuel Mudiay opted to play professionally in China rather than at SMU. He’s been with Denver and New York since. Terrance Ferguson chose pro ball in Australia over Arizona in 2016. All three had eligibility issues from not meeting academic standards.
Before, when a player could go straight to the NBA from high school, several excelled in the league. Among those,
Kobe Bryant and LeBron James are among the greatest players ever. Others, such as Shaun Livingston, Lou Williams and Gerald Green, have had solid careers.
Playing professionally at 18 years old isn’t for everyone. But the NBA is the most progressive sports league in the United States, and it can keep working to make sure its players are ready by continuing to grow and enhance its Rookie Transition Program, which provides educational sessions on topics like financial management, social media and nutrition.
Taking more steps to help a teenager who has the talent to play professionally excel at the next level helps the NBA, helps the player and, in some ways, helps the NCAA.
One of college basketball’s biggest issues is its inability to retain players. The one-and-done phenomenon doesn’t help college coaches build programs. It doesn’t help fan bases who see their favorite teams having to rebuild year after year. And it doesn’t help a player who wastes a year of being able to profit off his talent.
“My dream has never been to play college basketball,” Hampton said during his announcement on ESPN. “My dream has always been to get to the next level, and I think this was the best route for me to live like a pro and play with grown men every day and not kind of have to juggle books and basketball and focus on my main goal.”
Not every player is as good as Hampton, and they don’t all belong in the professional ranks. But there’s no reason he shouldn’t find a way to get to the NBA on his own terms rather than having to go to college to play.
The NCAA and NBA rules are trending in the right direction. Hopefully, they will result in players’ having the best and most efficient paths to professional basketball.