Thon Maker Saga Could Be Horrible For College Basketball
Thon Maker exploited a major loophole in the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement and wound up being selected with the 10th pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. The now-dubbed “prep school loophole” could be a serious blow to college basketball as top recruits suddenly have a way to skip college and head straight to the NBA.
Plenty of experts noticed the same thing last night:
College basketball may suffer if the NBA doesn't close the Thon Maker prep school loophole in its next CBA.
— Jeff Eisenberg (@JeffEisenberg) June 24, 2016
Top 10 kids would be silly to not at least consider the idea of just hiding at prep school for a year instead of going to college
— Brian Snow (@BSnow247) June 24, 2016
Under current NBA rules, to be eligible for the draft, a player must turn 19 years or older during the year of the draft he is entering. Additionally, he must be at least one year removed from his high school class graduating.
Maker turned 19 in February, so he satisfied that part of the requirement. Then, all he had to do was convince the NBA that he actually graduated from his school in 2015, but decided to stay for an extra post-graduate year. He accomplished that, thus satisfying both requirements and opening an gigantic can of worms.
The intention of the NBA’s rule was to ensure players either go to college, play internationally or play in the D-League for a season before turning professional. Maker did none of those things, and other top high school players could decide to do the same thing. Why go to college, face top-level competition and be forced to attend classes, when players could just hide in a prep school and dominate for a year?
The Milwaukee Bucks selected Maker with the 10th pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, which sent a horrible message. He basically spent an extra year at his high school and jumped to the NBA, something the league has tried to prohibit.
The problem here is there could be a massive talent drain from college basketball if top players decide to copy Maker’s path to the pros. We loved watching guys like Anthony Davis, Ben Simmons, Brandon Ingram and Karl-Anthony Towns dominate the collegiate games. It would have been awful if they skipped that step.
You can bet the NCAA and the NBA will huddle on this one and try to work out some kind of deal. Neither side wants kids jumping straight from high school to the pros. When the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement expires (which could happen as soon as June 30, 2017) the league must fix this loophole.
The NBA and the sport of basketball will both suffer if players begin skipping the crucial step of playing in college.