Report: NBA eliminates discussions of lower NBA age originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The NBA and NBPA have eliminated discussions of lowering the age permissible to be drafted in the NBA draft, according to Adrian Wojnarowski.
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The current age acceptable to be drafted in the NBA is 19 years old. That ramification was developed in 2005.
Players need not attend college to enter the NBA draft, however. They can join the G League Ignite development program or Overtime Elite before entering the draft. Or, they can play professionally overseas.
Significant profits from the aforementioned programs and the NCAA's name, image and likeness program drew away concerns of needing to lower the age. Some veterans have voiced their concerns about allowing high school athletes in the NBA, too.
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"We recognize that we really do need to make sure that we have the structure in place, if we're going to have people join the league at the age of 18," NBPA executive director Tamika Tremaglio said to Wojnarowski. "We also appreciate that there is a lot of benefit to really having veterans who can bring those 18-year-olds along. And so, certainly anything that we would even consider, to be quite honest, would have to include a component that would allow veterans to be a part of it as well."
The deadline to agree on a new collective bargaining agreement is Friday night. There are still "gaps" in the conversations, according to the report.
