Among the myriad “minor issues” still to be negotiated as a part of the NBA lockout, the players and owners must decide whether to alter the draft age minimum. In the 2005 deal, the league implemented a requirement that players must be one year removed from high school and 19 years old to be eligible for the draft. It was been widely reported that the NBA sought to boost those requirements to two years out of high school and 20 years old in a new collective bargaining agreement.
NBA Lockout: Draft Age Minimum Could Be Decided Saturday
But the lockout negotiations have largely dealt with economic and player movement issues, with none of what David Stern has called the “B-list items” able to make or break a deal. If the owners do implement a higher age minimum, they would likely concede another issue to the players in a bit of horse-trading.
CBS’ Jeff Goodman reports that a decision on the age minimum could come down on Saturday.
The higher age minimum would end the one-and-done phenomenon in college basketball, and could end up spurring more players to Europe or the D-League, where they can get paid (legally). D-League issues are also being discussed as the tentative deal to end the lockout becomes finalized; previous proposals gave teams the ability to send players to the D-League on a lower salary, but it’s highly unlikely players will concede to something like that.
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