In 2005, the NBA created a rule that prevented 18-year-old high school seniors from jumping directly to pro basketball. Intended to allow young athletes time to mature before entering the NBA, the rule brought about "one-and-done" college players and could be one of the root causes of a burgeoning college basketball scandal.
The rule, part of the NBA collective bargaining agreement, led directly to the influx of freshmen who play one year of college basketball before entering the NBA draft. It also increased the temptation for some high school stars and their families _ who fear they're missing out on millions of dollars _ to accept money from agents or apparel companies.
In September, the FBI and other federal authorities announced a sweeping investigation into bribery and corruption in college basketball. According to the FBI indictments, families of college basketball recruits were paid $100,000 and more.
At the core of the FBI investigation was money from athletic apparel giant adidas allegedly being used to pay the families of basketball recruits in exchange for attending colleges with adidas deals, to pay college coaches to veer those players toward certain agents and financial advisers linked to the apparel company.
A spokesman for N.C. State, which has an apparel contract with adidas, said earlier this month that the university had received a subpoena in January requesting documents related to the case. The News & Observer reported on Friday that the subpoena requested documents related to the recruitment of point guard Dennis Smith Jr., who played for the Wolfpack as a freshman last year before being drafted by the NBA's Dallas Mavericks.
Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, who built his Duke program around one-and-done players in recent years, has nonetheless said he'd be in favor of letting high school players jump straight to the pros.
The nation's best high-school basketball players don't like it.
All of which begs the question: Why should someone have to be 19 years old or one year out of high school to be able to play in the NBA?
