http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/7281052/nba-owners-players-tentative-agreement
Some additional details here.
Some additional details here.
Blake Griffin
@blakegriffin Blake Griffin
This must be how the guys in Space Jam felt when MJ gave them their powers back through that old basketball.
So, when will we know about the first day of the season? Is it for sure around Christmas day?
Read today that the owners are inclined to leave the draft as is for the next draft, and study what changes need to be made for a year. One of the proposals is to allow highschoolers to declare for the draft, but if not selected, be able to retain college eligiblity. As part of that agreement, any player that enters college would have to attend for 2 years, or if not, be two years removed from his highschool graduating class.
I don't know the rules of college eligibility but if the high school graduate doesn't hire an agent and pays their own way until after the draft perhaps that doesn't ruin eligibility?
Correct, it does not, if they go undrafted and do not hire an agent. There was the case of Randolph Morris a few years ago, who declared for the draft after his freshman year at Kentucky, didn't hire an agent, went undrafted, and returned to Kentucky for another two seasons. But still, that's NCAA rules and not NBA. Unless the NBA is working in concert with the NCAA they don't have much say in the issue. I suppose they could not allow entry into the draft for an 18-year-old who has hired an agent (basically forcing the kid to follow the NCAA rules) but even then I don't think the NCAA would like it. Can you imagine how many kids would "test the waters" with the draft after high school if there were no penalty to their NCAA eligibility? Practically all of them, just in case. NCAA teams would scream bloody murder, as half of the top 100 freshman might be up in the air about whether they're even going to go to college until late June. I can't see the NCAA being passive about that, and I think they'd kill that Randolph Morris loophole real fast. (Actually, who knows, maybe they already have!)