Should elite NBA prospects play in the NBA D-League than spending a season in college? Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban believes so.
The outspoken Mavs owner shared his thoughts with ESPN, saying: "I think what will end up happening -- and this is my opinion, not that of the league -- is if the colleges don't change from the one-and-done, we'll go after the one. The NCAA rules are so hypocritical, there's absolutely no reason for a kid to go [to college], because he's not going to class [and] he's actually not even able to take advantage of all the fun because the first semester he starts playing basketball. So if the goal is just to graduate to the NBA or be an NBA player, go to the D-League."
The minimum age requirement in the NBA according to its collective bargaining agreement is 19 years old, with the player having spent at least a year in high school. In the NBA D-League, the minimum age is 18 years old.
Cuban said he hopes the NBA will make concrete steps to make the D-League a more viable venue for players who want to spend only a year playing college hoops. He said he thinks the NBA should work with universities to give players who jumped straight out of high school the chance to play in the D-League and still pursue a college degree.
"We can get rid of all the hypocrisy and improve the education," he said. "If the whole plan is just to go to college for one year maybe or just the first semester, that's not a student-athlete. That's ridiculous."
The Mavs owner said he is most concerned about college players who just spent a year in college, saying they are not ready in terms of mental, emotional and psychological maturity to play in the NBA.
"You have to develop some level of maturity, and that has to be part of the process," Cuban said. "You don't want to bring kids in and just abandon them. That'd be the worst thing we could do."
Cuban even has a conclusion about playing in the NCAA, saying it is not where potential NBA players should play.
"Then you wouldn't be under the stupidity of the NCAA," he said. "There's no reason for the NCAA to exist. None."
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