Question about players leaving early for the Pros.

HaydenHawk56

HaydenHawk56

Well-Known Member
This has been brought up before, but I saw this about the WNBA:

Eligibility. The WNBA "requires players to be at least 22, to have completed their college eligibility, to have graduated from a four-year college or to be four years removed from high school".

I thought someone on here said there was a legal case where you can't stop someone in college from leaving early for the Pros. How does this explain the WNBA rule?
 
ssckelley said:
You cannot stop anyone from leaving college but the WNBA has the right to hire and refuse to hire whoever they want.
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For sure. So, in terms of the NBA, NFL, they are choosing to let college players come at any time into their leagues.

So, it would appear, if the Pro divisions involving men's sports....if they wanted to....they could also adapt WNBA standards.....but are not doing that.
 
HaydenHawk56 said:
For sure. So, in terms of the NBA, NFL, they are choosing to let college players come at any time into their leagues.

So, it would appear, if the Pro divisions involving men's sports....if they wanted to....they could also adapt WNBA standards.....but are not doing that.
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I'm not an expert on this by any means, but I think both the NBA and WNBA have agreements with the NCAA. I was just commenting on the legal aspect of it, I'm not lawyer but I can't see it being "Illegal" for professional league to hire someone.
 
There are no agreements in place between the pro leagues and the NCAA. There would be crazy antitrust implications, even more so than already exist. The NCAA cannot prohibit a kid from doing anything. They can only set eligibility standards to let a player be part of an NCAA team, so if they are already pro, they cannot go back and be an amatuer. But, a kid can leave the NCAA school anytime and the NCAA has no power to dictate what they do next.

Each pro league sets their own eligibility requirements in conjunction with the players unions. This is not unique to the pro sports. Lawyers have to go to an accredited law school and pass the bar. Many electricians have to do an apprenticeship before they can become a journeyman. Hooters requires its waitresses to be girls with low self-esteem Etc.
 
So, what I'm getting out of this is, if the Pro leagues want to set their own standards (and they do) they can make it harder to get into their leagues or easier. Seems like the WNBA set-up is better at keeping student athletes in school longer compared to the Pro Divisions with men.
 
HaydenHawk56 said:
So, what I'm getting out of this is, if the Pro leagues want to set their own standards (and they do) they can make it harder to get into their leagues or easier. Seems like the WNBA set-up is better at keeping student athletes in school longer compared to the Pro Divisions with men.
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It is naturally because the WNBA doesn’t pay anywhere close to the NBA so that college degree becomes more valuable.
 
There is always a level of paternalism in these decisions. The leagues say they are trying to do what's best for the athlete. I am sure that is why the WNBA wants to encourage these young ladies to get their degrees.

I personally think the NBA has made a mistake in lowering its age limits. One and done and before that no age limit is killing the game for the average fan. I don't watch the NBA because I don't know most of the players except the huge stars. Most came right out of high school or from overseas. Imagine if all these players had to spend 2 years at a college and we got to see them all play in March madness. I might actually be more interested in seeing what they do at the next level. Build fan interest in players at the college level and then capatalize on that when they make it to the pros. My two cents.
 
ssckelley said:
I'm not an expert on this by any means, but I think both the NBA and WNBA have agreements with the NCAA. I was just commenting on the legal aspect of it, I'm not lawyer but I can't see it being "Illegal" for professional league to hire someone.
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The eligible date for the draft is set by collective bargaining with the NBA and the players association.
 
HaydenHawk56 said:
So, what I'm getting out of this is, if the Pro leagues want to set their own standards (and they do) they can make it harder to get into their leagues or easier. Seems like the WNBA set-up is better at keeping student athletes in school longer compared to the Pro Divisions with men.
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I think you are correct and iirc the NFL now considers players eligible for the draft after their third year out of high school. I have never heard of a college football player in the last 10 or so years, or even more, leaving college early and getting drafted prior to finishing their true junior year or red-shirt junior year.

A few basketball players like Lebron are NBA ready right after high school but basically the one and done rule gives the players, scouts, and NBA personnel at least a year to see how they do against better overall competition. And maybe another year for them to grow.
 
Caitlin Clark has stated she will play out her eligibility. Was that even necessary to say assuming she already knew all of this?
 
ssckelley said:
It is naturally because the WNBA doesn’t pay anywhere close to the NBA so that college degree becomes more valuable.
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For sure, the money is night and day different.....which is sad to a degree. It is amazing also how Megan G got drafted so high....and then cut from her team almost right away...not having the same money guarantees like the men do.
 
NorthKCHawk said:
There is always a level of paternalism in these decisions. The leagues say they are trying to do what's best for the athlete. I am sure that is why the WNBA wants to encourage these young ladies to get their degrees.

I personally think the NBA has made a mistake in lowering its age limits. One and done and before that no age limit is killing the game for the average fan. I don't watch the NBA because I don't know most of the players except the huge stars. Most came right out of high school or from overseas. Imagine if all these players had to spend 2 years at a college and we got to see them all play in March madness. I might actually be more interested in seeing what they do at the next level. Build fan interest in players at the college level and then capatalize on that when they make it to the pros. My two cents.
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I agree it is hurting the college game in men's divisions. Not to go down that rabbit hole again (because I know there is the capitalist nature of people wanting to make money off their talents whenever they can and choose to) but I followed up on this topic when I saw this information on the WNBA.

I guess this helps answer the question that the Pros set the guidelines and it is a zero-sums game with Men's Pro Sports.....and they have all the money to back it up like ss alluded to.

But, they could strike a balance between raising the value of the college game. They choose not to.
 
HaydenHawk56 said:
For sure, the money is night and day different.....which is sad to a degree. It is amazing also how Megan G got drafted so high....and then cut from her team almost right away...not having the same money guarantees like the men do.
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She was a 2nd round draft pick in 2019, I don't think they get guaranteed contracts.
 
HaydenHawk56 said:
I agree it is hurting the college game in men's divisions. Not to go down that rabbit hole again (because I know there is the capitalist nature of people wanting to make money off their talents whenever they can and choose to) but I followed up on this topic when I saw this information on the WNBA.

I guess this helps answer the question that the Pros set the guidelines and it is a zero-sums game with Men's Pro Sports.....and they have all the money to back it up like ss alluded to.

But, they could strike a balance between raising the value of the college game. They choose not to.
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The NBA is nothing like the NFL money wise, but it's a LOT better than the NFL money wise for the players. These guys are making absurd amounts of money. Guys you've barely heard of make 10 million a year. They don't strike a balance because they don't need to.
 
BryceC said:
The NBA is nothing like the NFL money wise, but it's a LOT better than the NFL money wise for the players. These guys are making absurd amounts of money. Guys you've barely heard of make 10 million a year. They don't strike a balance because they don't need to.
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Nor do they seem to care.
 
If you haven't seen the movie Leatherheads (George Clooney), its worth $3. There are some parallels here. It is set in the 30s when pro football was just forming. College football was already huge.

When they asked the star college player if he was planning to turn pro, he and the reporters burst out laughing. My how times have changed......
 
HaydenHawk56 said:
Nor do they seem to care.
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Why would they? Ricky Rubio, a guy who is a career 11 PPG scorer makes 18 million a year.

There are 479 active NBA contracts - 124 of them are guys making more than 10 million dollars a year. 207 are more than 5 million a year. You compare that to sports like the NFL, where the players on average make a lot less for a lot shorter career, it looks crazy.
 
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