Introduction
One of the National Basketball Association’s (“NBA”) most contentious rules may be abolished soon. The “one-and-done” rule, established in the 2005 NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement (“CBA”), prohibits players from signing with the NBA until they are nineteen years old or one year removed from the graduation of his high school class.1[1]Chris Sheridan, Hunter still opposed to raising NBA age limit, USA TODAY (May 12, 2005) https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/2005-05-12-hunter-age-limit_x.htm; Tom Ziller, A complete primer on drafting international NBA prospects, SB Nation (June 25, 2014) https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2014/6/25/5820488/nba-draft-2014-international-prospects-dante-exum-dario-saric. The rule is expected to be phased out when the league’s current CBA with the National Basketball Players Association (“NBPA”) terminates following the 2023–2024 NBA season.2[2]Shams Charania, NBA, NBPA expected to agree to end ‘one-and-done rule,’ change draft age to 18 in next CBA: Sources, The Athletic (Sept. 19, 2022) https://theathletic.com/3607520/2022/09/19/nba-draft-age-rule-change-nbpa/.
The phrase “one-and-done” refers to the practice of college basketball players spending a single season with their university before departing for the NBA draft. Ending the one-and-done rule would change the path for many NBA hopefuls, who would be eligible to enter the draft once they turn eighteen.3[3]For example, a player born in 2006—the first draft class that required the player to be a year removed from their high school graduation class—will now be eligible to enter the 2024 draft, coincidentally eighteen years later, as opposed to the 2025 draft. It may also change the complexion and business strategy of the NBA’s developmental league, known as the G League.
The current NBA CBA was set to expire after the 2023–2024 season, but the deal provides for either side to opt out a year early. That appears increasingly likely as the league and players’ union have extended the opt-out deadline multiple times, most recently to March 31.4[4]Mike Vorkunov and Sam Amick, NBPA executive director Tamika Tremaglio discusses status of talks over new CBA agreement with NBA, The Athletic (Feb. 18, 2023) https://theathletic.com/4226707/2023/02/18/new-nba-cba-agreement-discussions/. The expectation is when the NBA and NBPA opt out this summer, at the conclusion of the 2022–2023 season, the two sides will have renegotiated and ratified a new CBA, which will have updated eligibility requirements and eliminate the one-and-done rule starting next season.5[5]Charania, supra.
Early Legal Breakthrough And Later Adjustments
The NBA has a history of legal battles over its eligibility requirements, specifically regarding how old its “freshman” class of players entering the draft must be. Future Basketball Hall of Famer Spencer Haywood’s legal challenge was a turning point for this issue, forever changing the league’s eligibility rules.6[6]William C. Rhoden, Early Entry? One and Done? Thank Spencer Haywood for the Privilege, The New York Times (June 29, 2016) https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/30/sports/basketball/spencer-haywood-rule-nba-draft-underclassmen.html. In 1971, the U.S. Supreme Court decided a legal battle between Haywood and the NBA, which ensured Haywood’s eligibility.7[7]Haywood v. National Basketball Association, 401 U.S. 1204 (1971). In Haywood v. National Basketball Ass’n, the Court found in favor of Haywood, the reigning Rookie of the Year, granting an injunction to allow him to play for the Seattle SuperSonics pending antitrust litigation.8[8]Id. at 1206–07.
At the time, the NBA’s regulation of draft entrants was stricter than during the one-and-done era. With collegiate basketball dominating the sport, players had to wait four years after high school graduation to enter the NBA.9[9]Rhoden, supra. Haywood, a talented twenty-year-old, first signed with the American Basketball Association’s (“ABA”) Denver Rockets (following only two seasons in college) before agreeing to a contract with the NBA’s SuperSonics, despite not yet being four years removed from high school.10[10]Rhoden, supra.; See also Jonathan Abrams, Boys Among Men 2 (1st ed. 2016).
Haywood alleged antitrust violations by the NBA, namely an unlawful group boycott, citing two Supreme Court decisions, Fashion Originators’ Guild v. FTC, 312 U.S. 457 (1941) and Klor’s v. Broadway-Hale Stores, 359 U.S. 207 (1959), which found a per se violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.11[11]Haywood, 401 U.S. at 1205 (1971). After the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California granted an injunction allowing Haywood to play, the NBA won an appeal in the Ninth Circuit.12[12]Id. at 1206. Haywood and the Sonics would see the injunction reinstated by the Supreme Court shortly thereafter.13[13]Id. at 1207. Haywood v. NBA paved the way for a generation of athletes entering the NBA “from prep to pro.”14[14]Haywood and the NBA settled, so he could remain with the Sonics. The Sonics retired Haywood’s number, and No. 24 continues to be retired by Seattle’s successor franchise Oklahoma City Thunder. Oklahoma City Thunder Retired Jersey Numbers, RealGM.com, https://basketball.realgm.com/nba/teams/Oklahoma-City-Thunder/33/Retired-Numbers.
For the thirty-four years following Haywood, the NBA had no real age limit and freely allowed high schoolers to enter the professional ranks. This turned into a boom-and-bust era for high-school athletes joining the ranks of the NBA. Kevin Garnett was the fifth overall pick of the 1995 NBA Draft and the first high-schooler drafted since Darryl Dawkins and Bill Willoughby (both in 1975).15[15]Greg Dudek, How Celtics Great Kevin Garnett Changed NBA Landscape Not Once But Twice, NESN (Nov. 8, 2022) https://nesn.com/2022/11/how-celtics-great-kevin-garnett-changed-nba-landscape-not-once-but-twice/. Twenty high-school athletes alone were drafted into the NBA in the final three years before the one-and-done rule was instituted, a number that ballooned from one-to-two per draft in the late-’90s to nine in 2005.16[16]Draft History, NBA.com, https://www.nba.com/stats/draft/history. To conclude this era, three first-overall selections in the final four years of this rule were high schoolers: Kwame Brown in 2001, LeBron James in 2003, and Dwight Howard in 2004.17[17]Id.
After instituting the age limit in the 2005 CBA, NBA-hopeful players had to wait one year after high school before entering the NBA draft.18[18]Howard Beck, N.B.A. Draft Will Close Book on High School Stars, The New York Times (June 28, 2005) https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/28/sports/basketball/nba-draft-will-close-book-on-high-school-stars.html. This change became the norm: every first-overall selection in the NBA Draft since 2010 spent precisely a single season participating in college basketball.19[19]Aaron Dodson, All the NBA draft’s one-and-done lottery picks: a scorecard, Andscape (formerly The Undefeated) (June 22, 2017) https://andscape.com/features/all-the-nba-drafts-one-and-done-lottery-picks-a-scorecard/. Between 2006 and 2022, all but two first-overall picks were one-and-done players.20[20]Andrea Bargnani in 2006 and Blake Griffin in 2009 were the two non-one-and-done No. 1 picks of the era. Greg Oden and Ben Simmons were, in essence, redshirt freshmen when they forewent remaining eligibility to enter their respective draft classes. John Wall was a “fifth-year” high school senior and nineteen years old but did not test the eligibility waters, instead playing with the Kentucky Wildcats for a single season. See Chad Ford, Buzz from the Nike Hoop Summit, ESPN (Apr. 13, 2009) https://www.espn.com/nba/draft2009/columns/story?columnist=ford_chad&page=DraftWatch-090414.
Over the past several years, something has changed. The basketball world has seen a revolution of high-school-aged athletes choosing to play professionally: overseas, like in Australia’s National Basketball League (“NBL”), in the NBA’s developmental G League, or, in Overtime Elite, the privately run youth basketball league currently in its second season of operation.21[21]Andrew Greif, Teen hoops players are paid $100K salaries. The goal? A new path to the NBA, The Los Angeles Times (May 19, 2022) https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2022-05-19/nba-draft-overtime-elite-league-inside-look; Kyle Tucker and Brendan Marks, How Overtime Elite became a college basketball ally instead of a threat, The Athletic (Feb. 13, 2023) https://theathletic.com/4179365/2023/02/13/ote-college-basketball-calipari/. These aforementioned seventeen and eighteen-year-old athletes, earning significant money while filling out their resumes as NBA prospects, have forcefully paved the way for the NBA to reconsider its age limit.
The G League Ignite has played a prominent role through its deliberate purpose of providing high-schoolers a platform to avoid the National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”).22[22]See also Paolo Uggetti, The State of the G League Ignite, One Year In, The Ringer (Oct. 1, 2021) https://www.theringer.com/2021/10/1/22702644/g-league-ignite-year-2-jaden-hardy-jason-hart. The Ignite feature top NBA prospects (and several veterans) working on development.23[23]Id. Six former Ignite players have been drafted after three seasons in existence, including three first-round selections in 2021.24[24]Three Ignite players were selected in the first round of the 2021 draft, headlined by second overall pick Jalen Green. Three more Ignite players were selected within the top-forty picks of the 2022 class. The average age for the six players at the time of the draft was 19.7, approximately the same age as one-and-done first-overall selections in both years: Cade Cunningham and Paolo Banchero. Meanwhile, current Ignite guard Scoot Henderson is widely expected to be the second overall selection, after international phenom Victor Wembanyama, in the 2023 draft class. Both Wembanyama and Henderson will hover around that same average age come June 2023. Past NBA Draft Results, Tankathon.com, https://www.tankathon.com/; Jeremy Woo, Inside Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson’s Thrilling Showdown in Vegas, Sports Illustrated (Oct. 5, 2022) https://www.si.com/nba/2022/10/05/victor-wembanyama-scoot-henderson-2023-nba-draft-g-league-ignite-metropolitans-92.
Implications of One-And-Done Elimination
One pushback provided by the NBPA to the potential elimination of the one-and-done rule is the impact on veteran players. Executive Director Tamika Tremaglio said that the players’ association “spent a lot of time talking” about the concern that veterans would lose roster spots with a revised age limit in the new CBA.25[25]Tim Bontemps, Adam Silver, NBPA chief say new CBA ‘absolutely a priority’, ESPN.com (Feb. 18, 2023) https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/35690889/adam-silver-nbpa-chief-say-new-cba-absolutely-priority. The argument is simple: the younger the possible entry to the league is, the fewer roster spots are available for veterans. Ultimately, the issue of the age limit, like most items in the CBA negotiations, will be tied to other sticking points between the NBA and NBPA, such as media rights and revenue sharing.26[26]Mike Vorkunov and Sam Amick, NBPA executive director Tamika Tremaglio discusses status of talks over new CBA agreement with NBA, The Athletic (Feb. 18, 2023) https://theathletic.com/4226707/2023/02/18/new-nba-cba-agreement-discussions/.
One possible alleviation to this issue, after eliminating the one-and-done age limit, is use of the G League. The current CBA introduced “two-way” contracts for the 2017–2018 season, with players splitting time between their G League team and their “major” league NBA team.27[27]Tim Cato, How the NBA’s new 2-way contracts work and why some agents are worried about them, SBNation.com (July 18, 2017) https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2017/7/18/15985262/nba-two-way-contract-2017-summer-league-agents-worried-about-them. The G League would serve as a home base for players to hone their craft while call-ups to the NBA would function as try-outs to see if they could adjust to the competitive league. Since then, and especially during the COVID-shortened 2020–2021 NBA season, these G League contracts have been amended to function as flexible “farm” systems for NBA clubs.28[28]Tania Ganguli, ‘Every Hooper’s Dream’: N.B.A. Hopefuls Get Their Chance During Crisis, The New York Times (Dec. 29, 2021) https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/29/sports/basketball/nba-g-league-contracts.html. Twenty-eight of the G League’s thirty teams are singularly affiliated with an NBA club.29[29]NBA G League Expansion, NBA G League, https://gleague.nba.com/expansion. In practice, a structure is already in place to use G League teams to develop young players drafted by NBA clubs.
Solutions To One-And-Done Elimination Concerns
As the G League Ignite has already demonstrated, the NBA’s developmental league can be an effective training ground to retain talent, prepare players for the NBA, and provide professional salaries (paid in the low-to-mid six figures) without interfering with fifteen-man NBA rosters.30[30]Marc J. Spears, G League Ignite provides ‘a good environment’ for NBA prospects, Andscape (Dec. 20, 2021) https://andscape.com/features/g-league-ignite-provides-a-good-environment-for-nba-prospects/. “I’m just trying to prepare myself for the next level,” Ignite guard Scoot Henderson told the Associated Press’ Tim Reynolds in February.31[31]Tim Reynolds, Analysis: Scoot Henderson says he’s ready for NBA draft, Associated Press (Feb. 28, 2023) https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-russell-westbrook-draft-20110cf4506dd900f48d84fefd673077. If competition from other ventures, according to NBA Commissioner Silver and NBPA Executive Director Tremaglio, is the purpose of the CBA talks, its future will be preserved by keeping and growing talent in the NBA.32[32]That includes reaching overseas for talent, too. NBA Academy Africa point guard Thierry Darlan will play for the Ignite next season despite qualifying for the 2023 draft. See Jonathan Givony, International prospect Thierry Darlan commits to G League Ignite, ESPN.com (Mar. 2, 2023) https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/35769054/international-prospect-thierry-darlan-commits-g-league-ignite (“I believe Ignite is the best place for me to [develop].”).
From Spencer Haywood to Kevin Garnett to Amir Johnson (the last high-schooler drafted in 2005) to Paolo Banchero in 2022, the NBA has undergone several permutations regarding eligibility.33[33]Jonathan Abrams, Amir Johnson Is More Than an Answer in N.B.A. Trivia, The New York Times (Jan. 7, 2022) https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/07/sports/basketball/amir-johnson-nba-g-league-ignite.html. When the NBPA and NBA convene to hash out the next CBA, the league will be reborn in a new era of eligibility, with many forces pushing and pulling to ultimately determine who gets to live out their dream and become an NBA player.
Written by: Reid Goldsmith
Reid is a 2025 J.D. Candidate at Brooklyn Law School
1 Chris Sheridan, Hunter still opposed to raising NBA age limit, USA TODAY (May 12, 2005) https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/2005-05-12-hunter-age-limit_x.htm; Tom Ziller, A complete primer on drafting international NBA prospects, SB Nation (June 25, 2014) https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2014/6/25/5820488/nba-draft-2014-international-prospects-dante-exum-dario-saric.
2 Id.Shams Charania, NBA, NBPA expected to agree to end ‘one-and-done rule,’ change draft age to 18 in next CBA: Sources, The Athletic (Sept. 19, 2022) https://theathletic.com/3607520/2022/09/19/nba-draft-age-rule-change-nbpa/.
3 For example, a player born in 2006—the first draft class that required the player to be a year removed from their high school graduation class—will now be eligible to enter the 2024 draft, coincidentally eighteen years later, as opposed to the 2025 draft.
4 Mike Vorkunov and Sam Amick, NBPA executive director Tamika Tremaglio discusses status of talks over new CBA agreement with NBA, The Athletic (Feb. 18, 2023) https://theathletic.com/4226707/2023/02/18/new-nba-cba-agreement-discussions/.
5 Charania, supra.
6 William C. Rhoden, Early Entry? One and Done? Thank Spencer Haywood for the Privilege, The New York Times (June 29, 2016) https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/30/sports/basketball/spencer-haywood-rule-nba-draft-underclassmen.html.
7 Haywood v. National Basketball Association, 401 U.S. 1204 (1971).
8 Id. at 1206–07.
9 Rhoden, supra.
10 Rhoden, supra.; See also Jonathan Abrams, Boys Among Men 2 (1st ed. 2016).
11 Haywood, 401 U.S. at 1205 (1971).
12 Id. at 1206.
13 Id. at 1207.
14 Haywood and the NBA settled, so he could remain with the Sonics. The Sonics retired Haywood’s number, and No. 24 continues to be retired by Seattle’s successor franchise Oklahoma City Thunder. Oklahoma City Thunder Retired Jersey Numbers, RealGM.com, https://basketball.realgm.com/nba/teams/Oklahoma-City-Thunder/33/Retired-Numbers.
15 Greg Dudek, How Celtics Great Kevin Garnett Changed NBA Landscape Not Once But Twice, NESN (Nov. 8, 2022) https://nesn.com/2022/11/how-celtics-great-kevin-garnett-changed-nba-landscape-not-once-but-twice/.
16 Draft History, NBA.com, https://www.nba.com/stats/draft/history.
17 Id.
18 Howard Beck, N.B.A. Draft Will Close Book on High School Stars, The New York Times (June 28, 2005) https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/28/sports/basketball/nba-draft-will-close-book-on-high-school-stars.html.
19 Aaron Dodson, All the NBA draft’s one-and-done lottery picks: a scorecard, Andscape (formerly The Undefeated) (June 22, 2017) https://andscape.com/features/all-the-nba-drafts-one-and-done-lottery-picks-a-scorecard/.
20Andrea Bargnani in 2006 and Blake Griffin in 2009 were the two non-one-and-done No. 1 picks of the era. Greg Oden and Ben Simmons were, in essence, redshirt freshmen when they forewent remaining eligibility to enter their respective draft classes. John Wall was a “fifth-year” high school senior and nineteen years old but did not test the eligibility waters, instead playing with the Kentucky Wildcats for a single season. See Chad Ford, Buzz from the Nike Hoop Summit, ESPN (Apr. 13, 2009) https://www.espn.com/nba/draft2009/columns/story?columnist=ford_chad&page=DraftWatch-090414.
21 Andrew Greif, Teen hoops players are paid $100K salaries. The goal? A new path to the NBA, The Los Angeles Times (May 19, 2022) https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2022-05-19/nba-draft-overtime-elite-league-inside-look; Kyle Tucker and Brendan Marks, How Overtime Elite became a college basketball ally instead of a threat, The Athletic (Feb. 13, 2023) https://theathletic.com/4179365/2023/02/13/ote-college-basketball-calipari/.
22 See also Paolo Uggetti, The State of the G League Ignite, One Year In, The Ringer (Oct. 1, 2021) https://www.theringer.com/2021/10/1/22702644/g-league-ignite-year-2-jaden-hardy-jason-hart.
23 Id.
24 Three Ignite players were selected in the first round of the 2021 draft, headlined by second overall pick Jalen Green. Three more Ignite players were selected within the top-forty picks of the 2022 class. The average age for the six players at the time of the draft was 19.7, approximately the same age as one-and-done first-overall selections in both years: Cade Cunningham and Paolo Banchero. Meanwhile, current Ignite guard Scoot Henderson is widely expected to be the second overall selection, after international phenom Victor Wembanyama, in the 2023 draft class. Both Wembanyama and Henderson will hover around that same average age come June 2023. Past NBA Draft Results, Tankathon.com, https://www.tankathon.com/; Jeremy Woo, Inside Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson’s Thrilling Showdown in Vegas, Sports Illustrated (Oct. 5, 2022) https://www.si.com/nba/2022/10/05/victor-wembanyama-scoot-henderson-2023-nba-draft-g-league-ignite-metropolitans-92.
25 Tim Bontemps, Adam Silver, NBPA chief say new CBA ‘absolutely a priority’, ESPN.com (Feb. 18, 2023) https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/35690889/adam-silver-nbpa-chief-say-new-cba-absolutely-priority.
26 Mike Vorkunov and Sam Amick, NBPA executive director Tamika Tremaglio discusses status of talks over new CBA agreement with NBA, The Athletic (Feb. 18, 2023) https://theathletic.com/4226707/2023/02/18/new-nba-cba-agreement-discussions/.
27 Tim Cato, How the NBA’s new 2-way contracts work and why some agents are worried about them, SBNation.com (July 18, 2017) https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2017/7/18/15985262/nba-two-way-contract-2017-summer-league-agents-worried-about-them.
28 Tania Ganguli, ‘Every Hooper’s Dream’: N.B.A. Hopefuls Get Their Chance During Crisis, The New York Times (Dec. 29, 2021) https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/29/sports/basketball/nba-g-league-contracts.html.
29 NBA G League Expansion, NBA G League, https://gleague.nba.com/expansion.
30 Marc J. Spears, G League Ignite provides ‘a good environment’ for NBA prospects, Andscape (Dec. 20, 2021) https://andscape.com/features/g-league-ignite-provides-a-good-environment-for-nba-prospects/.
31 Tim Reynolds, Analysis: Scoot Henderson says he’s ready for NBA draft, Associated Press (Feb. 28, 2023) https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-russell-westbrook-draft-20110cf4506dd900f48d84fefd673077.
32 That includes reaching overseas for talent, too. NBA Academy Africa point guard Thierry Darlan will play for the Ignite next season despite qualifying for the 2023 draft. See Jonathan Givony, International prospect Thierry Darlan commits to G League Ignite, ESPN.com (Mar. 2, 2023) https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/35769054/international-prospect-thierry-darlan-commits-g-league-ignite (“I believe Ignite is the best place for me to [develop].”).
33 Jonathan Abrams, Amir Johnson Is More Than an Answer in N.B.A. Trivia, The New York Times (Jan. 7, 2022) https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/07/sports/basketball/amir-johnson-nba-g-league-ignite.html.
