The NBA has officially proposed a rules change which would lower the minimum age for NBA Draft candidates from 19 to 18. Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today Sports broke the story yesterday. The so-called “one and done rule”, requiring high school graduates to wait a year before becoming draft-eligible, has been in force since 2006. The initial rules change proposal targets the 2022 NBA Draft as the first year the change would go into effect.
Both the league and the NBA Players Association would need to agree to the change. The timing allows teams to prepare for the “super draft” which would result in the initial year, as the latent crop of 19-year-olds and now-eligible high school seniors would both enter the same draft, in effect doubling the talent pool for one year.