The argument for NCAA basketball players being able to return to college basketball after the NBA Draft is picking up steam, and we now have a proposed model for the Commission on College Basketball.
Here’s the actual proposal from NBA Topical working group to Commission regarding one model for early entrants being able to return to school AFTER the draft. pic.twitter.com/2W6E8z1OTZ
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) July 6, 2018
To simplify all that. here’s what it means:
Players who want to have the option to return to college after the NBA Draft have to be evaluated by the NBA Undergraduate Advisory Committee. Then, they have to receive a combine invite. If those two things happen, and the player isn’t happy with how the draft goes for him, he can announce that he’ll return to school before 5:00 p.m. the Monday after the draft.
If the player decides to return to college, he has to either return to the same school or be subject to NCAA transfer rules.
So, for example, if Wenyen Gabriel had decided it was get drafted or return to school, he could have announced his decision to return the Monday after the draft and then either returned to Kentucky or transferred elsewhere and sat out a year.
While this gives the players more freedom and some power, I’m still not sure I like the idea. For coaches like John Calipari, who have a lot of roster turnover, it becomes difficult to fill your roster if you have players who may want to return and hold onto their scholarship if they don’t get drafted or if they decide they don’t like their draft position.
In addition to that, it doesn’t seem like there’s a stipulation that only undrafted players can return. If a player gets drafted to a situation they don’t like, they could use this rule to hold out and go elsewhere the next year.
What are your thoughts on the idea of players returning to school after the draft?