Adam Silver Hopes for NBA Draft Age Limit to Move Back to 18

The NBA moved its age limit to 19 in 2005.

The NBA draft’s age limit has been set at 19 years old since 2005. The change ended a long era of high school phenoms being eligible for the draft, ushering in a controversial one-and-done era in college basketball, and more recently, additional postgraduate options for players including the NBA’s G League, overseas leagues and others.

There have been calls to change the age threshold back to 18 for years, and now commissioner Adam Silver is on board, given the changing landscape in high school and college basketball.

If the NBA or National Basketball Players Association opts out of the league’s current collective bargaining agreement this winter, it could open the door for a change to the age rule next summer. Silver spoke about the possibility in the league’s board of governors meetings during the ongoing Summer League.

“It’s [based on] larger conversations than just whether we go from 19 to 18, but I’m on record: When I balance all of these various considerations, I think that would be the right thing to do and I am hopeful that that’s a change we make in this next collective bargaining cycle, which will happen in the next couple years,” Silver said, via ESPN.

According to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps, a number of factors have gone into Silver’s opinion, which has shifted away from further increasing the age limit to 20, including the start of NIL and other “societal changes,” and the recommendations of an NCAA committee led by Condoleezza Rice.

“It may be the case that it’s in all of our interests that we start impacting with these young players, especially because in our sport they are identified at such a young age,” Silver said, “and begin working with them on their development then, not just basketball skills but increasingly there’s a focus on their mental health, their diets, just helping them build character and all of the important values around the sport.”

Forty-one players made the jump from high school to the NBA, starting with Darryl Dawkins and Bill Willoughby in 1975. While the list features a number of notable draft busts like Kwame Brown, it also features Hall of Famers Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady, and likely future Hall of Famers LeBron James and Dwight Howard, along with a number of other All-Star and All-NBA–caliber players.

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