No Age-Limit Increase After All
Following a report by FoxSports.com that the NBA and NCAA were possibly teaming up to increase the League’s age limit by forcing guys to stay in college an additional year, there was quite a bit of hand-wringing yesterday, and I would say quite justifiably so.
The whole thing was as confusing as it was irritating. And it turns out, completely wrong.
David Stern said yesterday that, even though he thinks the NBA would benefit it, he will not push for the age-limit to be increased from 19 to 20. And the Players’ Association is perfectly fine with that.
“The union membership has historically been overwhelmingly opposed to raising the age limitation by a margin of over 90% of the membership,” said spokesman Dan Wasserman from the players’ association office in New York.
“It is highly doubtful that the league or the union would open up negotiations during the CBA, just for one issue. It has never been done before and there has been no discussion of it happening now.
Even better, the NBA and NCAA are instead joining forces in an effort to improve youth basketball, and perhaps even weed out some of the corruption in the high-stakes game of recruiting. Best of luck with that one, fellas.
18 Responses to “No Age-Limit Increase After All”
Apr.8 at 12:17 pm
The Notorious King says:
1st
Apr.8 at 12:18 pm
The Notorious King says:
90% of the top 10 players all came straight from high school
Apr.8 at 12:30 pm
what says:
Good, now all they need to do is get rid of the age limit entirely and things will go back to being the way they should be.
Apr.8 at 12:50 pm
canadian says:
Hooray. If Stern is looking for ways to improve the L he needs to banish Isiah and flopping.
Apr.8 at 1:02 pm
J Donuts says:
Which concert would you go to, KRS-1 or Talib Kweli? Both coming on the same night. I’m leaning towards Kris, cause he’s such a damn legend.
Apr.8 at 1:13 pm
Son of Shawn says:
I´m clearly against the age-limit, I think that people like Lebron, Bynum, Kobe, McGrady, KG, Dwight Howard etc. at age 18 can play with the pros and not putting in risk an entire career without making a buck playing two entire seasons putting their bodies in risk of a serious injury playing for nothing, but money for others (tv, sponsors …), example: Melo spent (wasted)a year in a league that looked very small for him (very very small), he landed at Syracuse, and dominated completely the NCAA in a embarrasing way.
So the thing is, if they can play like pros, let them play against the pros (and Slam Mag is always talkin´bout that kid Ricky Rubio, that went pro at 15)
Apr.8 at 1:47 pm
Ryan Jones says:
Let’s make sure we all remember this in 2011
Apr.8 at 3:25 pm
Lehmannator22 says:
Make them stay all four years of college
Apr.8 at 4:49 pm
Benny The Jet Rodriguez says:
Age limit? Do you mean age minimum? Or was Robert Parish finally forced out by Stern?
Apr.8 at 5:28 pm
Rob says:
Some of the greatest players made the jump from highschool but it seems stern hasn’t noticed this, if he thinks making these guys stay in college longer will ‘benefit’ the league he is very wrong. Firstly it means the players in college gotta do a course, and they may gain too much interest in this and BAM they will follow that line of work instead, Secondly it heightens the chance of injury and the fact that they have to go through and extra season of hard work which could in turn put the off bball.I also think the dress code should be gotten rid of. I H8 STERN. Infact if I got the chance i’d run for commissioner! haha..STERN OUT
Apr.8 at 6:19 pm
Jukai says:
Shawn, the arguement is that Melo would NOT have dominated with more competition playing in the NCAA’s instead of going straight into the pros. I’m fine with the one year rule, cause it will weed out High School phemons who really weren’t that great to begin with (OJ Mayo).
Apr.8 at 6:49 pm
Kevin says:
^ ouch
Apr.8 at 8:12 pm
David says:
90% of the top 10, eh? Okay - my top 10 in the league for this season: LeBron, KG, Kobe, Chris Paul, Duncan, Stoudamire, DHoward, Jamison, Baron, and we’ll put in Deron, too. 50%. T-Mac is close to top 10 this year, though. Rashard Lewis is not. Historically, is it harder for players at particular positions to be successful in the NBA quickly? And on this note, does Tony Parker count as a high schooler? Didn’t he come to the spurs when he was 19 straight from the French league?
Apr.8 at 10:43 pm
Greece says:
Why punish the players for bad recruiting? The age limit should be non-existent. Bad scouters should be fired.
Apr.8 at 11:37 pm
whitechocolate says:
ummm david i wouldnt consider jamison top 10 nor do i think baron is
Apr.9 at 3:29 am
hursty says:
yeh whitey…. otherwise dave is pretty ok.
Apr.9 at 3:58 pm
ciolkstar says:
TP was playing professionally in France since he was 16 !!!
Apr.9 at 8:02 pm
Allen says:
If they raise the age limit anymore, someone with bucks should swoop into the void and create a professional 18-20 year old league, or whatever the gap is. You can’t stop kids from playing in other leagues right? Right David Stern? Or would they get black balled?