In 2005, the NBA changed the rules regarding when players could declare for the draft, requiring players to be 19 years of age before being able to pursue a professional basketball career. This system has created a pattern of one-and-
The current system clearly needs to be remedied, as the turnover in college basketball is so great that teams are forced to rely completely on freshmen at times. Kentucky, the closest thing to a dynasty in college basketball, provides the best example of this issue. The Wildcats won the national championship in 2012 with a team led mostly by freshmen Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Marquis Teague, who were the first, second and 29th picks in the draft, respectively. The following season, coach John Calipari pulled in another great recruiting class, featuring three five-star signees, including Nerlens Noel and Archie Goodwin. Goodwin was a disappointment in Lexington, and Noel suffered a mid-year injury, forcing the Wildcats into the NIT, where they fell to Robert Morris in the first round.
The following season, Goodwin and Noel left for the NBA, while Calipari pulled in the consensus top recruiting class in the land, with five five-star players. The team’s four leading scorers were freshmen, led by Julius Randle, the seventh pick in the following summer’s draft. This example shows how easy it is for a dominant team to fall off the landscape of college basketball based on the talent level of a few 18-year-olds.
The primary argument for forcing players to go to school for a year is to let them mature and receive at least a smidgen of an education. Perennial powerhouse North Carolina has been swarmed with scandals in recent years, with allegations surfacing regarding athletes being given grades they have not earned and being enrolled in classes that do not actually exist. While this is an isolated issue at one school, believing that athletes at every other school around the country receive the same education as other students is to be naive.
As far as maturity goes, athletes likely will not have large jumps in maturity in one year in college, and their year spent in college has a great risk of injury. Their draft stock may actually take a hit. LSU’s Ben Simmons is widely expected to be the top pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, and he has been before he even stepped on a college basketball court. Simmons could only hurt his draft position (and potential income) by playing in college this season.
While there have been plenty of busts to enter the draft from high school (such as Kwame Brown, the top pick in 2001), plenty of NBA stars have come straight from high school, including LeBron James, Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant. If a high school basketball player is talented enough to compete in the NBA, and a team is willing to take the chance, there simply is not good enough reasoning to force them into a year of college.