If NBA Commissioner Adam Silver had his way, the minimum age requirement to play in the pro league would be 20 years old to prevent college basketball players from bolting to the league after just one year of playing college ball.
During his first press briefing on Saturday coinciding with the All-Star Weekend festivities, Silver said the 20-year old age requirement had been discussed three years ago but was shelved when other pressing economic issues cropped up.
But he insisted that the age requirement would benefit both the college and NBA game. For the NBA, it would mean more mature rookies while college teams would have more years to develop their talents.
As reported by The Sport Xchange and published by Yahoo! Sports, Silver said: "Everywhere I go, I know people dislike the so-called 'one-and-done.' I think it's important to the NBA, it's important to basketball generally that there be strong college basketball. It's important to college basketball that there be strong youth basketball and strong AAU basketball.
He continued: "I think we feel we have a responsibility at the NBA as the stewards of the game to ensure that the game is played the right way and those values of the game ... are executed properly. We at the league office are thinking about those things every day. You have my commitment that I am focused on the game, and ultimately, that's what this is about."
He added that the requirement will lead to more maturity on the part of the players and result to a better league. "I know from a competitive standpoint, that's something as I travel the league I increasingly hear from our coaches, especially, who feel that many of the top players in the league could use more time to develop as leaders as part of college programs."
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