By Tom Hirshfeld
Ever since 2005, the path to the NBA for aspiring stars has been the same––dominate in high school, commit to a Division 1 school, decimate the competition at the collegiate level for one season, perform well in the NCAA tournament, and finally get drafted by the league. Sure, there have been outliers who were drafted after playing internationally––think of current MVP candidates Giannis Antetokounmpo and Luka Doncic, both of who were drafted after competing internationally. However, they are simply exceptions to the rule. The typical path to the league has been shaped extensively by regulation found in Article X of the 2005 NBA/NBPA Collective Bargaining Agreement; the “One and Done” rule.
The “One and Done” rule stipulates that in order for an American player to be draft eligible, he must be at least 19 years old and at least one NBA season must have elapsed since his class had graduated. This rule essentially forces prospective stars to spend at a year in college, creating the “one and done” phenomena, where athletes spend the minimum one season requirement in college before being “done” and declaring for the NBA draft. This rule was put in place in an attempt to raise the quality of play in the NBA by forcing players to refine their game in college and to give NBA scouts a chance to examine players during the college basketball season.
However, recently there has been discussion about removing this rule; here are my thoughts. Were the NBA to remove the one and done rule, we would see an enormous amount of players attempting to go prep-to-pro or signing up for the draft out of high school. This, in turn, would lead to a lot of players who would not get drafted out of high school and then would either try and make it overseas or would give up basketball and join the workforce. Furthermore, the NCAA recently repealed a rule stopping players from profiting off of their image in college, meaning that college athletes can now earn money while competing. This makes college a more viable option for those players who would otherwise not be able to support their families.
We should keep the “one and done” rule. Now that players can profit off of their image in college, they can still support themselves, and for those players who find the concept of playing college ball for a year redundant, playing overseas is an extremely viable option.