UK basketball: John Calipari in favor of draft-eligibility change
LEXINGTON, Ky. — NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said recently that he thinks the NBA’s draft-eligibility rules will change soon. The “one-and-done” model has been in place since 2005, but Silver, though he doesn’t know what the change will be, expects the rule to be different at some point.
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The UK basketball program under John Calipari has been more successful with the one-and-done model than any other program in college basketball. However, a change to the NBA's draft-eligibility rules wouldn’t bother Calipari.
“This isn’t for me about Kentucky,” Calipari said on a conference call Tuesday. “Whatever happens in this as we go forward, Kentucky eats first. I’m not saying it to be arrogant. You know it. However they play this, it isn’t me talking about ‘well, this is what would be best for Kentucky, for my program...you won’t believe this, but this basketball program will probably be about where it is in 50 years’”
One rumored change that basketball could go to is the professional baseball model. In baseball, a player drafted by an MLB team out of high school can skip college and sign with the team. However, players that choose to go to a four-year university must stay for at least three years. That idea doesn’t seem likely for the NBA, but Calipari would be in favor of that change.
“Would the baseball rule work? In my mind, yeah,” Calipari said. “Heck yeah. I’d love the baseball rule. I’d love the baseball rule for the kids. They’d have a chance to go right out of high school and get on an NBA roster. If they’re a lottery pick they’ll make $20 million. I love it.”
However, Calipari said he doesn’t see a scenario where the NBA goes back to drafting high schoolers because the NBA owners aren’t interested in that. As usual, Calipari’s focus lies with the kids who would be affected by the decision. He referred to a study by the NCAA that showed 77 percent of African-American college basketball players earned their degrees in 2016.
Because kids know they have to go to college, Calipari said players are putting in work academically in high school.
“What we’re doing for these kids now, and going forward, by having to go through college, what’s happened is young kids know ‘I’ve got to do this academic work or I can’t even go to college to play basketball to have a chance for the NBA.’” Calipari said. “Whatever we’re doing for these kids is right. My kids are on lifetime scholarships. I heard somebody say ‘well they don’t go to class the second term.’ It’s not true here. They all go to class. They finish the term academically. Every player on my team that left early, all five guys, have finished the term academically and can come back here whenever they choose.”