Should NBA Players Need to go to college
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Should NBA Players Need to go to college
Introduction
College education in the United States despite it being expensive remains to be the best globally considering the number of students that go abroad for the studies and vice-versa. Every young people below 18years is required to attend school and later college level that few used it to transit to the University level and much more. While they are few people who are against people joining college because of the money required and that it leads to one being immersed in more debts that they pay in the future for a long time it has been believed that it is the reason of the decreased unemployment rate in the United States(Evans) . Joining the NBA is usually a guarantee that one’s life is on the right track as long as one has the skills to play basketball and have the required height. The discussion below will shed right on whether college education should be needed for one to join the NBA while also looking at the various stakeholder’s perspectives.
Original NBA Age Requirement
The first requirement of people enrolling in the NBA was in 1969 and it stated that anyone who had not completed high school education or one that had completed and not joined college yet was nor eligible for joining unless four years after he has graduated or his class has graduated. After this law was challenged by a prospective NBA player Spencer Haywood and Sam Schulman the Seattle Supersonics owner and according to Judge warren this was against the antitrust law hence he struck it done and stated that in the event one was experiencing financial hardships he could join early (A. Wacker, and Edelman). However, in 1976, the education requirements were removed completely and this led to the recruitment of a few players who had left college early. In 1975 some high school seniors were recruited for the NBA and this played a big part in the seven percent high school elections made by 2001; Kobe Bryant was among the few. In addition, LeBron James who has been rising since he joined the leagues was also selected with the first overall pick in 2003 and a year later Dwight Howard was selected. While the NBA owners had declared that entering the leagues right from high school was a personal choice, they later changed their mind in 2005 when Commissioner Stern stated that the college basketball experience helped the players to be more prepared for the court. This belief led to the adoption of the current college requirement that states that one is eligible to join only if he is no less than 19 years of age and has at least one year since their high school graduation. The requirement since its enacted has seen various players who have joined after being engaged in the same game at the college level (A. Wacker, and Edelman).
Perspectives on College requirements
They have been various people with varying opinions on whether the requirement that one has to join the NBA after one year is beneficial. According to Emmert who claims he is up to making changes in the college sports he states that the stay of the students in the colleges should be increased to 2 years since they have joined the colleges as students and not athletes. Various people have criticized him claiming that he lacks interest in what the students are going to study but the money they make for the colleges they have enrolled. In addition, some people believe that they are people like Kobe and LeBron who are pros and should just join immediately after high school to stop wasting time but others whose talents are not yet developed should join the college to perfect their skills more; some people disagree (Hatfield). They also claim that whichever player is recruited that the fact they are joining NBA despite how good they are they will all require adjustments and adaptability hence there is no need of them wasting time in colleges but used the time to fir in the NBA’s (Andras). Also, some people believe that in college there are very many time constraints since there is the allowed time in the gym and the other classes that people are involved in hence this time wasted can be used to perfect one’s skills and the fact that one gets to practice with pros is more beneficial. We all join college education to have a better future through the money that will earn id one has the opportunity to make ends meet through bypassing college education it is not only right but beneficial since they get to achieve their dreams sooner (Hill, and Jolly).
Unfortunately, some scholars believe that shifting directly to the NBA’s personality and self-esteem can be affected because the players picked were in most cases dominating in their previous leagues but in the big leagues they are the worse if not worst. While some may refer to this as a weakness it is believed that the few who are picked have always worked hard to join these leagues hence they know what to expect (DiMauro). Moreover, they are some downside too where one may lose his college chance if he ends up not making the roster for NBA after trying out, the disappointments can be frustrating and may lead to a promising student who could have excelled in other diverse fields not succeeding (Andras). In addition, some people believe that students should stay in college longer since basketball career may not last forever, this is because there are accidents that can render your skills despite how good they are useless. While people agree that the advancements in technology and the therapy equipment are in place can in a way ensure this the risks are too high. Also, a college education is better according to a few hence the stay in college should be extended from the current one year.
NBA Stakeholders
They are various stakeholders of the league that support it and can be credited with the high performance for the players, they are the owners, athletes, sponsors, fans and the team staff. To begin with the owners, they believe that the rule that requires one to attend only one year in college should be removed, this is to increase the quality of the league games since with more practice the players will be better and this will not only attract more fans but also consumer dollars which will benefit the business perspectives of the league (Parlow). Secondly, according to the athletes, the increased education limit will hurt them and not in any way perfect their schools, first, the earning while in college goes to the school which despite offering them scholarships it still gains a lot (Berry). Also, the longer one stays in college means that they will be recruited later which is usually the same if one scores less, this effect was clear when Cauley-Stein who was a pro decreased his scores. Thirdly, for the fans, there is a high probability of the fan base being more this is because the players will garner a huge following as they are playing while in college hence when they join the big leagues the number will increase and so will be the business sides of the league. In addition, regarding the staff the older a player is the more responsible and disciplined, there is hence the extra age that will be added will make their work easier and translate to ensuring that the perform their work more efficiently increasing their productivity (Turner, and Karl Hakes). Lastly, the sponsors support the teams that are bound to benefit them more hence the players when the time they will stay in college is increased means as individuals they will glow and their productivity will increase hence they will attract more consumers’ interest which benefits the sponsors in terms of revenue (Berri).
Conclusion
A college education has both benefits and disadvantages to all parties involved and while going to the big leagues ensures that the student achieves their dreams earlier the more they stay in college the better they will be when they join the big leagues. Some scholars believe that to ensure that the students will succeed in other areas if they were not built for the NBA’s they should be allowed to hold their college eligibility. While this sounds like a very good deal and a win-win for everyone we have not yet seen it in action but there is still time (Andras). While the people aligning with the increases stay in the college are high that those supporting otherwise it is evident that they are success stories of people who joined after high school and their productivity has been nothing but excellent, for example, LeBron and Kobe. Finally, basketball as we know it is not only a prestigious game but not like golf but it has attracted a very high number of followers and who the more they are the high the revenue for the owners and more fun for their supporters.
Works Cited
Andras, Simon. “Should Basketball Players Be Required To Go To College?”. Secsportsfan.Com, http://www.secsportsfan.com/should-basketball-players-be-required-to-go-to-college.html. Accessed 8 Mar 2020.
A. Wacker, Joseph, and Marc Edelman. Collectively Bargained Age/Education Requirements: A Source Of Antitrust Risk For Sports Club-Owners Or Labor Risk For Players Unions?. 2010, pp. 354-376, http://www.pennstatelawreview.org/115/2/115%20Penn%20St.%20L.%20Rev.%202.341.pdf. Accessed 8 Mar 2020.
Berri, David. “How The NBA’s Age Limit Helps Colleges But Hurts Players”. Time, 2014, https://time.com/3649028/nba-draft-age-limit-kentucky-wildcats-one-and-done/. Accessed 8 Mar 2020.
Berry, Dennis. “NBA Should Raise Player Age Limit”. Thebestsportsblog.Com, 2016, http://www.thebestsportsblog.com/nba-should-raise-player-age-limit.html. Accessed 8 Mar 2020.
DiMauro, Koelbe. “Should NBA Players Have To Go To College”. Basketballin23, https://basketballin23.wordpress.com/2015/03/01/should-nba-players-have-to-go-to-college/. Accessed 8 Mar 2020.
Evans, Brent A. “From College To The NBA: What Determines A Player’S Success And What Characteristics Are NBA Franchises Overlooking?”. Applied Economics Letters, vol 25, no. 5, 2017, pp. 300-304. Informa UK Limited, doi:10.1080/13504851.2017.1319551. Accessed 8 Mar 2020.
Hatfield, Luke. “College Basketball Players Should Stay In School”. Hawk Eye, 2014, https://bphawkeye.org/sports/2014/01/02/college-basketball-players-should-stay-in-school/. Accessed 8 Mar 2020.
HILL, JAMES R., and NICHOLAS A. JOLLY. “Salary Distribution And Collective Bargaining Agreements: A Case Study Of The NBA”. Industrial Relations: A Journal Of Economy And Society, vol 51, no. 2, 2012, pp. 342-363. Wiley, doi:10.1111/j.1468-232x.2012.00680.x. Accessed 8 Mar 2020.
Parlow, Matthew J. Professional Sports League Commissioners’ Authority And Collective Bargaining. Heinonline, 2010, pp. 4-25, https://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0,5&qsp=6&q=nba+players+%22collective+bargaining+agreements%22&qst=bh&httpsredir=1&article=1587&context=facpub. Accessed 8 Mar 2020.
Turner, Chad, and Jahn Karl Hakes. The Collective Bargaining Effects Of NBA Player Productivity Dynamics. 2007, pp. 4-30, https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/5058/1/MPRA_paper_5058.pdf. Accessed 8 Mar 2020.
