The NBA and National Basketball Players Association's conversations on eliminating the one-and-done entry rule have centered on lowering the minimum age requirement no sooner than the 2020 draft, league sources told ESPN.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver and NBPA executive director Michele Roberts have discussed scenarios to end the requirement for American players to wait one year after high school graduation to enter the NBA draft, but no formal agreement could be reached before the NBPA's executive committee, including president Chris Paul, gather for a meeting at the end of the NBA playoffs in June.
Silver and Roberts have both expressed a desire to change the rule, but it remains to be seen how the process of negotiating a rule change between the league and players will unfold.
The NBA allows high school players to enter the G League without the wait. The Commission on College Basketball recommended Wednesday that the NBA and NBPA allow high school players to enter the draft, but college basketball has no ability to effect change on the issue. The NBA and NBPA must collectively bargain a change of the early entry rule.
The Commission on College Basketball made a recommendation to allow college players who declare for the NBA draft to retain their eligibility should they go unselected in the draft.
The NBA has a record 236 early-entry candidates for the 2018 NBA draft, which includes 181 NCAA and 81 international players. It is an increase of 30 percent over the 2017 draft. That rule change could benefit both the NBA and college basketball, because even the G League can't absorb such an influx of marginal pro prospects.
