# If the NBA Moves to an Age Limit of 20...



## luther (Nov 2, 2007)

Below is a portion of a recent column from John Hollinger of ESPN.com discussing what he sees as an already begun threat to the best players coming to the NBA (due to the current economic problems in the U.S.) and how it could get worse with the recently-mentioned possibility of the NBA moving to a minimum age limit of 20.



> The NBA would essentially require them to play for free for two years under this plan.
> 
> That is, unless they went someplace else. And that's the real threat of Stern's idea -- that the next LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony will decide that it would be much easier to spend the next two years making several million dollars in Barcelona or Athens.
> 
> ...


http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3317288&name=hollinger_john


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## Krstic All-Star (Mar 9, 2005)

What I like about it is that it could force the NBA to rethink a few of its practices in order to continue to be the league with the best players. The rookie salary cap made sense a few years ago when salaries were skyrocketing for new players, but it might need to be substantially altered.


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## MLKG (Aug 25, 2003)

Instead imposing age limits to keep young players in college, the NBA needs to provide an actual incentive to stay in college. You can't pay college players, but you CAN adjust the rookie pay scale based on the number of years a player played college ball.

So sophmores can make more than freshman, juniors can make more than sophmores, etc...

Provide provisions so that a top 5 pick (or whatever number) can sign a max deal straight of college if they stay 4 years.

Make it financially beneficial to stay in school and set the scale so that it makes up for lost income.

Right now even players want to stay in school can't because it doesn't make any sense financially. Removing the rookie scale for 4 years players that go in the top tier of the draft lets those players sign their first max deal a year earlier than they would have if they left their freshman year (and the incentive gets even bigger for super sophmores to stick around).


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## Krstic All-Star (Mar 9, 2005)

^ I like the scale you propose. The differences would need to be significant to make the athletes stay in school, of course. One other thing that needs to go along with it would be an overhaul of the ridiculous NCAA restrictions on athletes and money. Considering everything, giving them a reasonable stipend wouldn't be a bad starting spot.


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## luther (Nov 2, 2007)

Personally, I want colleges and the NCAA as far out of bed with the NBA as possible. I don't think either one works particularly well with the other, primarily because they've got different goals and alleged motivations. That said, I'm a proponent of guys getting an education, for their and for society's sake. I wish the NBA would team with USA Basketball or something and make a basketball academy, and work these issues out without the hypocrisy of major college ball. Invite the guys who appear most likely to be future pros (and who have that interest), pay them, have them play in the international competitions as Team USA and give them a basic education. 

Let college basketball be for college students, with their "pay" remaining scholarships only.

I think the NCAA would cry foul at first, at least, with the top players out of their pipeline. But they could revert to marketing programs, not players (or better yet, not marketing ... which, considering the profits' destinations, seems more appropriate than stealing from unpaid players) and survive on student and alumni love. 

As for when to start letting the players enter the league and whether or how to adjust the rookie scale, that's a hard one for me. I do like the 2-year guaranteed deal with extensions or cutting ties at that point. But it does seem ridiculous to limit the Lebron Jameses of the world to the rookie scale.


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## 23isback (Mar 15, 2006)

MLKG said:


> Instead imposing age limits to keep young players in college, the NBA needs to provide an actual incentive to stay in college. You can't pay college players, but you CAN adjust the rookie pay scale based on the number of years a player played college ball.
> 
> So sophmores can make more than freshman, juniors can make more than sophmores, etc...
> 
> ...


Still the chance of injury outweighs those financial benefits. If an ambitious freshman with all the talent in the world decided to go through with the 4 years in college for the benefits, and he gets injured his senior year or something, what happens to all that he worked for?


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## luther (Nov 2, 2007)

23isback said:


> Still the chance of injury outweighs those financial benefits. If an ambitious freshman with all the talent in the world decided to go through with the 4 years in college for the benefits, and he gets injured his senior year or something, what happens to all that he worked for?


It has been common practice in major college sports for promising athletes to get very large insurance policies for just such situations. So the answer to your question is, he'd be rich. Maybe not as rich as he'd be if he would have signed multiple contracts, but more rich than he'd be if he had made the league for a limited career.


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