NBA Age Limit Options Are Numerous, But Reports Indicate It Staying At 19 For Now

The NBA age limit is one of the more discussed topics when it comes to issues still not hashed out in the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, but the current plan seems to be that the league will stick with 19 for now. That doesn’t mean that other options aren’t being presented, however.

The NBA would like to extend the NBA’s age limit to only allow players who are out of their teens to play professional basketball in the best league in the world -- the NBA Development League’s age limit is still 18 -- but ESPN’s Ric Bucher reports that the Association will likely remain with the current rule for at least the next two years.

After that, however, numerous options are being discussed.

Several alternatives have been discussed, sources said. One option would be to allow players to enter the draft directly out of high school but have the option to withdraw and go to college, similar to the draft rule used by Major League Baseball. Under this concept, a player would next be required to attend at least two years of college before entering the draft again.

Another option would be to revise the rookie salary scale by adding incentives to stay in college longer, a source familiar with the labor talks said. Potential incentives would include increasing the salary range for each year a player stays in school or allow him to qualify for free agency sooner.

The former option seems to be much more appealing that the latter, but either way it gives players more options as they decide their future in professional basketball.