G-League bars top NCAA prospects due to obscure rule, per report

Several first-round NBA prospects have been told that they cannot play for the G-League this season due to a rule that bars players who have been part of a college basketball program during the same academic year, according to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony. That includes Mitchell Robinson, a potential lottery pick who recently dropped out of Western Kentucky to focus on the draft.

Robinson reportedly reached out to the G-League about his eligibility and was told he could not be signed due to the rule. Other cases include players caught up in the current FBI college basketball corruption investigation such as Louisville’s Brian Bowen, USC’s De’Anthony Melton, and Auburn’s Austin Wiley and Danjel Purifoy.

Officially, the part of the rule that matters is this:

“b. Either (i) the player has NOT attended a college or university in the United States or Canada during the academic year that takes place during all or any part of the season; (ii) the player has attended a college or university in the United States or Canada during the academic year that takes place during all or any part of the season but is no longer eligible in the current academic year (including by enrolling) to play basketball for the college or university during the season at the time of signing the Player Contract; or (iii) the player has no remaining intercollegiate basketball eligibility. “

The wording allows exceptions, like in the case of P.J. Hairston, who was ruled permanently ineligible and signed with the Texas Legends in January. However, that doesn’t apply to Robinson — who was suspended indefinitely before dropping out — or those tied up in the FBI investigation, whose eligibility has not been determined by the NCAA.

According to Givony, some front office executives even questioned whether the situation was “collusion” between the NBA and the NCAA. One anonymous general manager was quoted as saying, “Is it really the NBA’s place to tell players what they should or shouldn’t do with their lives before they enter the draft?”

Because these prospects are being barred from the G-League, their remaining options are signing overseas, sitting out the half year until the draft to train, or waiting on the NCAA’s eligibility rulings. (That could allow players to either return to their college rosters, or sign G-League deals.)

Because players are only represented by the National Basketball Players Association after being drafted or signing a professional contract, there is nothing the NBPA can do, NBPA official Elle Hagedorn told ESPN.

This rule won’t be changed midseason, and those college prospects must simply make the most out of their poor situations. Ideally, the NBA may change that rule in the future, granting additional freedom to former college players to sign with a league designed to develop young prospects into fully grown professional players without requiring them to leave the country.

College basketball’s popularity isn’t tied directly to their most highly regarded NBA prospects, and in consecutive seasons, we’ve seen the top overall pick’s school miss the NCAA Tournament altogether. (There was only one lottery pick and three total first-round selections represented among last year’s four NCAA Final Four schools.)

Until then, these young prospects will continue to be excluded from a league that should be attempting to attract them.