How would you feel if you were an 18 year old superstar high school basketball player having to make one of the toughest decisions of your life? Your decision is to choose college or the NBA. You will have many different influences from family, friends, coaches and fans. However, it is your decision. You think of having money and being able to take care of your family and friends. Then you think about earning a college degree. What would you do?

From 1995 to 2006, when the NBA changed the age limit rules, many  teens were used to pondering this question.. It is an arduous decision to make. The kids are under a tiny microscope being watched by everyone. The media plays a major role in the kid’s decision by writing and broadcasting their every move. There have been movies and books created about the pressures of dealing with an exceptional talent of playing high school basketball. Many of the players who have either made the leap or attempted to make the leap from high school to the NBA come from poverty-stricken backgrounds, places where drugs and gangs rule the street, the place known to many as the “ghetto.” All high school basketball players should have the right to make their own decision whether to choose NBA over college and there should not be an age limit. The age limit has heavy racial connotations. This is a huge ethical problem.

Despite the success stories of several high school players drafted since 1995, the entry of high schoolers into the NBA remains controversial as evidenced by the league and the union agreeing to ban the practice. In 2006 the NBA implemented the age limit. The new minimum age for playing has been adjusted to twenty years old in the calendar year of the draft or two years removed from high school class. “Stern believes the rule would improve the quality of play and the image of the league, as well as raise the profiles of rookies, who would be more familiar to NBA fans after being hyped a year or two in college.” (Ian Thomsen Sports Illustrated). Advocates of the minimum-age rule insist that players will benefit from time on a college campus. (Ian Thomsen Sports Illustrated). There are not any just reasons why all of the advocates of the minimum-age rule agree with the rule. So the easiest response was to say that the players would benefit from the college experience.

Before the new age restrictions, ‘The current rules were the outgrowth of the landmark ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1971, Haywood v. NBA, that threw out the league’s old requirement that a player must complete four years of college eligibility before turning pro.” (Chris Sheridan). In the case Haywood argued he had the inalienable right, as an adult American to earn a living. “Haywood’s victory set the precedent for the current rules, but only three players Moses Malone, Darryl Dawkins and Bill Willoughby made the jump from preps to pros during the 1970’s and 1980’s. (Chris Sheridan). It was not until 1995 when Kevin Garnett started the change and that opened the flood gates for high school players forgoing college for NBA. Since Kevin Garnett restarted the phenomenon of skipping high school to play professional basketball there have been forty-two players to do it. (Dr. Jessica Johnson).

As stated earlier there are definitely racial undertones in the NBA administering an age restriction. There was a comment made by Jermaine O’Neal, a perennial NBA all-star who is a player to skip college for the NBA. O’Neal’s comments were implying that the league desire to implement a twenty year old age limit is racist. O’Neal feels that age limit would affect the young black male more than anyone else, because since the year 2000 there only have been one Caucasian player to the draft right out of high school; Robert Swift. There hasn’t been an age limit being considered for baseball and hockey.