The timing was purely coincidental, but Duke University phenom Zion Williamson’s disintegrating shoe and resulting knee sprain were nevertheless a symbolically appropriate nail in the coffin for “one-and-done.”
Like Williamson’s shoe, it’s headed for the scrap heap.
When the NBA increased its draft-eligible age limit from 18 to 19 several years ago, it was intended to be a means of deterring scores of underprepared high schoolers from skipping college in attempt to get right into the league.
But really, all it accomplished was a guarantee that athletes would participate in a single season of collegiate basketball before then declaring for the NBA Draft.
This “solution” didn’t really wind up appeasing anyone.
NBA teams are still drafting youngsters en masse, while those athletes with the temerity to actually become college seniors or juniors get unceremoniously saddled with the label of having “limited upside.” Coaches of big-time programs, meanwhile, intensely dislike a system that virtually guarantees insufficient time to properly develop a prospect into a full-blown player. And the athletes themselves simply don’t see the point of imposing what is, to them, an arbitrary and unnecessary limitation on their entry into the league. If they can play at 18, why shouldn’t they?
Given that, Thursday’s news that the NBA has sent an official proposal to the Players Association to again lower the draft age back to 18 is welcome news all around, if a little too late for helices of Williamson.
Though the collective bargaining agreement between the league and the NBAPA is not set to expire until the end of the 2023-24 season, there appears to be a growing urgency from both sides to get this change agreed to within the coming months, and enacted in time for the 2022 draft.
There are, naturally, some obstacles remaining.
For instance, according to an ESPN report, the league is requesting that agents be required to provide medical reports on players. The NBA also wants some level of attendance/participation in the combine to be mandatory.
There must also be a discussion of the mechanisms to be put in place to handle those misguided teens who forgo college and subsequently go undrafted, which was one of the underlying reasons for the “one-and-done” rule to begin with. Do such players get sent to the G League? Is there a way for them to retain their amateur status and re-enroll in college?
There is time yet to get such issues worked out.
In the meantime, it’s telling that the league made this proposal, and that the players’ union is generally supportive of the idea. While some might anticipate opposition from the latter, considering it revives the old dilemma of unprepared prospects potentially taking the roster spots (read: jobs) of veteran players, that concern has apparently taken a backseat to the notion of simply making anyone capable of playing actually eligible to do so.
It’s a good plan that both sides expect to be put together in short order. And, so long as it’s constructed more rigorously than Williamson’s Nike, that should be a good thing.
THREE MORE THOUGHTS
No ref respect for Harden? • Thursday night’s Rockets-Lakers game, which saw Houston star James Harden whistled for four offensive fouls before fouling out with less than two minutes to go, couldn’t help but produce some laughs from (non-Rockets) fans. After all, here was the man widely considered the biggest beneficiary of refs’ calls complaining that he was the victim of poor officiating. After the game, Harden called Scott Foster “rude and arrogant” and said he should be prevented from reffing any more Rockets games. And Harden haters called this the definition of the pot calling the kettle black. Maybe some of those whistles were bogus. Then again, given how many go in his favor, maybe he’d have been better off not mouthing off.
S-Jax’s ’get off my lawn’ moment • Exhibit B of people maybe needing to think before they speak: former NBA player Stephen Jackson. Asked about players having increasing autonomy on determining their professional futures, the 41-year-old went on a bizarre diatribe about modern players being “spoiled” while arguing “they don’t actually love the game like we did.” No one’s disputing modern players have got it good. Just look at Ian Mahinmi’s contract. But these “back in my day” arguments — and that is what this is — never come across as anything but petulant jealousy. The only thing missing from Jackson’s criticism was him talking about how back in his day, he played in Chuck Taylor canvas sneakers, and the courts he played on were snow-covered and went uphill — both ways.
Welcome back, DeMar DeRozan • You can understand why the Toronto Raptors made a run at Kawhi Leonard this past summer, and still feel bad for DeRozan being the central piece of the package going to San Antonio in exchange. After all, he played nine seasons up north, and was widely regarded as one of the most loyal players in the league, re-signing with that team over, say, going to his hometown Lakers in free agency a few years back. He was understandably upset about the deal. So, while a standing ovation from Raptors fans in his first trip back Friday night may be relatively little consolation for a guy who wanted to be there for his entire career, it’s still a cool thing to see him get his proper due. My first-ever trip to Toronto in January was confirmation of those fans’ passion for the game. They know what DeRozan brought. And if Leonard leaves in free agency this summer, they’ll miss DeRozan as much as he misses them.
